Angel's Breath
by Sarin-sama
Summary: Kinshi is a silent traveler on her way out of the Land of Fire - or at least, that was the plan. What happens when she comes across Naruto and Jiraiya on their way back to the village after three years of training? Parings: Naruto/Hinata OCx? On Hiatus
1. Chance Meeting

**Hey all, Sarin-sama here! - This idea's been tumbling around in my head for a while and I've finally gotten the first chapter the way I want it xD Hope you all enjoy it**

**Note: Takes place after time skip (Shippuden, anime only as that's all I've seen and have experience with) and will hopefully go through most of the wonderful adventures (don't worry, my OC's not a Mary Sue, so i'm hoping you'll like her) There will be romance - HinataxNaruto as stated earlier and OCxSomeoneSecret lol I can't give it away yet, or the fun will be ruined!**

**I do not own Naruto, but Shiawase Kinshi is the newest addition to my mental family xD**

**!~Enjoy~!**

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><p>The spring sun bathed me in warmth, my skin tingled happily as it took in the sunlight. A faint breeze whispered through the trees of the forest that surround the small village of Kikkiyo and played with the loose strands of my hair.<p>

From my street corner where I sold my hand-painted trinkets and jewelry, I watched the lazy movements of the small town. It wasn't much more than a main street of shops and stores surrounded by scattered houses that littered the forest for a few miles out. Small dirt paths wove through the alleys created by the row of shops and into the forest in all directions. The small paths led to different outcroppings of houses and neighborhoods where the lax townspeople lived and went about their lives.

The town had been decent enough – definitely better than some I had been to, but overall nothing special or unique. I'd been to probably hundreds of towns in my six years of traveling, and after I've moved on from this place, I probably wouldn't remember more than a few simple facts, like the delicious smell of tea that seemed to constantly waft from the open entrance of the tea shop or that there were an abundance of grey fox in the surrounding forests. When I moved on, this town would become just another name on my mental list of places.

I'd been there for about a month, and was starting to feel the itch again. The itch to leave and continue down through the Land of Fire. Six years of traveling had taken me from the northern most part of the Land of Lightning where I was born, along the eastern coast and down into the Land of Rice Patties. I spent almost two years in that small land, but not by choice. When I finally left, I quickly passed through another small and unremarkable country and into the Land of Fire, where I've been ever since.

It was such a large and lush land that I couldn't help but zigzag through as much as I could. The terrain varied considerably, making every journey between towns exciting and fresh – sometimes it was forests and rivers, while other times I'd be climbing mountains and trudging through snow.

But my time through the Land of Fire was coming to an end, as I was reaching the western border that touched the Land of Rivers.

The scuffing of many footsteps coming closer to my street corner brought me out of my thoughts and on edge. By the number of them, it could only be one group and I didn't really feel like dealing with them today.

Pochino and his gang of nameless thugs were soon crowding around my work space. All of my wares were spread out neatly on a thin blue blanket as I sat cross-legged, facing the street. Pochino was a self-proclaimed rogue ninja – though what hidden village he'd defected from, he would never say – that had been like a beacon of light for all the low-life moths in the town. His little gang consisted of mostly drunkards, lazy asses, and petty criminals – the worst of which was Notabi, the second in command of the crew that was a known thief and vicious drunk.

"Hey, Kinshi – nice day today, huh," Pochino said with a fake smile in his voice as he leaned against a pole of a street light.

I sighed and nodded in response, hoping that if I let him be, he'd leave me alone.

"You really should reconsider my offer – you and that mystery power of yours would make a great addition to our team."

I narrowed my eyes at him and shook my head. I quickly pulled out my note pad and pen and wrote out, "_I don't have any powers – you are wrong."_

Pochino laughed at me, "You can't hide it from me, sweetie – I can feel the power just rolling off of you. Have you forgotten that I'm a sensory-type?"

I rolled my eyes at him – I had serious doubts that he was actually a ninja, but if he was just making wild accusations, then he was spot on…

But I wouldn't let _him_ know that.

Pochino sighed and crouched down beside me. I tried my best to ignore him as he flicked my hair loop, causing the small blue bead with painted waves on it to bounce off of my cheek and swing around my face. "It really is a waste," he started, "Such a pretty girl like you should be on the arm of a powerful man instead of selling trash on street corners." His rough fingers slid beneath my chin and turned my head to face him directly, "You'd be perfect for a piece of arm-candy – especially since you can't talk back with that pretty mouth of yours."

I scowled at him and pulled my face out of his grasp.

He laughed and gave me a sharp shove to the side as he stood up straight.

I fell to my side, managing to stop my face from hitting the ground by quickly pushing my hands downward. My palms stung as rocks scraped against them, but I knew that it could have been worse if my face hit the bumpy dirt ground.

Suddenly, Notabi stepped out from the midst of the crowd. "Boss," he started urgently, "Look over there!" Notabi pointed towards the northwest end of the road that led into and out of town. Two figures with small traveling packs were strolling slowly down the road.

They seemed weary and road-worn – I knew the feeling well – but both held smiles on their faces as they looked at the small strip of town. The one on the left was a tall and broad shouldered man who looked to be in his fifties – though he still seemed physically fit and roughly attractive despite his age – who had a mass of white hair that hung in a thick ponytail down his back. The older man had analytical dark eyes and red lines painted on his face, starting at the bottom of his eye-lids and stretching down to his chin.

My fingers automatically went to my own face that held similar markings, though mine were permanent burn marks instead of ink.

My eyes then looked over the second figure who seemed much younger than his traveling companion. The boy looked to be at or near my age of 16, with bright blonde hair that stuck out in all directions. Even from this distance I could tell that his eyes were a bright blue, almost like a clear and unpolluted forest stream that trickled around his pupils. Those bright eyes seemed to glitter happily on the outside, but I got the feeling he had more intense emotion hidden just beneath the outer façade. Those eyes spoke to me of suffering and experience, though his face was still young and relatively boyish.

But, what stuck out he most on those two travelers, were their headbands. Everyone in the Land of Fire knew those symbols by heart – a swirl that came to a point and then wrapped itself back to form a leaf.

They were from Konoha – the Village Hidden in the Leaves.

And I wasn't the only one to notice. Immediately, Pochino and his gang all stood up and made a quick dash through a back alley, hoping not to be seen by the real ninja who were entering the village.

I watched the newcomers as they walked down the center of the street, looking about the town. The older man with the white mane of hair brought his attention to the fleeing group of men, and once they disappeared, his dark eyes fell on me.

I tried not to act like I was staring, but I was, and the older man knew it. I'd never seen a Leaf Ninja before, and staring was all I could do. Even with all my time in the Land of Fire, I had only heard rumors and stories about the Leaf Ninja, none of which could be proven true or not.

The older man suddenly gave me a smile and veered towards me, causing the blonde-haired ninja to follow curiously behind. Both sets of ninja eyes were on me now, but my eyes were still trained on their headbands. It was entirely possible that they could be fakes – but everything about their physical appearance told me that they were the real deal.

Real ninja.

"I hope we didn't scare away your customers, young lady," the older man said with a small smile. His dark eyes gave me a playful look – one I had learned to ignore in my time on the road. It was surprising how many men in the world knew that hungry expression of lust.

I gave my head a small shake and offered a smile to the two travelers.

The blonde boy with bright eyes crouched down and picked up a black-leather bracelet with a blue painted bead tied down in the middle. "Oooo, these are nice. Do you have any in pink?"

I thought for a moment, and after rummaging through my satchel, I pulled out a bracelet of the same type with a faint red paint instead of blue, as well as a slightly different design on the bead – the blue sported a white bird symbol while the reddish one displayed a golden sun. I held it out to him and his smile grew wider.

"I think she'd love that," he smiled happily to himself, "How much?"

I held up five fingers.

He raised his eyebrows at me, "That much?"

I shrugged my shoulders with an apologetic smile. I had to make a living somehow.

He sighed and pulled out a money pouch that looked like a deflated frog. "Sakura better like this," he mumbled as he rummaged through his frog for the correct amount.

I nodded to him as I took his money. He narrowed his eyes at me, "You sure aren't very talkative."

I gave him a silent laugh and shook my head. I pulled out a pen and a blank scroll from my satchel that I kept for just such an occasion, and wrote him a small message.

He read my words aloud, "Sorry; don't talk. I'm Kinshi." He looked from my words to my face, "Huh, really?"

I nodded.

He got to his feet and scratched the back of his neck with an awkward smile, "Sorry then – I'm Uzumaki Naruto."

The white-haired man took a small step forward and gave an overly dramatic bow, "I'm the Great Sage Jiraiya – it's a pleasure to meet you dear, Kinshi."

I smiled and rolled my eyes as Naruto gave a quick snort of laughter, "'Great Sage' my ass – ignore him, he's just a pervert."

I laughed silently and shook my head at the two ninja travelers.

Jiraiya sighed and propped himself on Naruto's shoulder, "Not in front of the ladies, Naruto! Have I taught you nothing?"

"Nothing important anyways," Naruto said with a quick laugh.

Sage Jiraiya sighed again, "Anyways," he turned back to me, "Are there any good places to eat around here?"

"Oh," Naruto groaned in unison with his stomach, "I can't wait to get home. I've been waiting for Ichiraku's Ramen for two whole years! Nothing's even come close to being as good!"

I tapped my chin in thought and then held up a finger for them to wait.

They nodded and watched while I shoved all of my belongings and wares into my satchel, careful with the glass beads not to crack them on anything else in my bag. I packed my thin blue blanket last, and then got to my feet.

I dusted off the seat of my tan shorts and motioned for the two travelers to follow me. I led them down the main road a little ways and then down a small dirt pathway that would lead to the best place to get good, home-cooked food in this small town.

The food in any of the restaurants or inns in Kikkiyo couldn't shake a stick at Linita's cooking. Her meals were the best in town, and only the local's knew that she'd give you a good plate of food in trade for something she needed.

And I just so happened to have something she might like.

I smiled as we finally came to the decline in the forest that revealed Linita's house as well as a few others. It was a small wooden hovel, much too small for her five kids and herself, but she managed to make it work.

She always had food ready, thanks to her growing boys and the elderly neighbors that she regularly cooked meals for, so buying two plates off of her lunch menu wouldn't be too bad.

I smiled over my shoulder at the two following behind me and told them to wait once we reached a place where the ground leveled out. They both agreed with curious looks in their eyes, and stayed where I motioned for them to. I went the rest of the way to the small house and knocked on the partially opened door.

"Come in!" Linita's tired voice called out from the belly of the small house.

I pushed the door open lightly and took a few small steps inside. As my eyes adjusted to the darkness of the house, I heard Linta call to me, "Oh, Kinshi! I didn't think you'd stop by today."

I sent a smile in the direction of her voice and stepped towards the kitchen. I could smell the spices of her special fried chicken and tanginess of her teriyaki rice balls. A growl escaped my stomach as I breathed in the happy scents.

"You look hungry," she smirked, "You have anything for me?"

I nodded and immediately started digging through my satchel. At the very bottom I found the gray fox furs I had caught, skinned and cured. I set down two of them on her kitchen table and motioned for her to feel how wonderfully soft they were.

She did as I nonverbally commanded and her eyes lit up at the soft touch of the furs, "Oh, these would be perfect for the new baby blanket I was planning – but are you really giving me both?"

I nodded and pulled out my scroll and pen. I scratched out the previous message and wrote beneath the crossed out words.

_Two plates please. Nice travelers outside._

As she read my words she nodded, "Ah, I see – they must have bought something, yes?"

I nodded and held up five fingers.

Linita's eyes widened, "Really? No wonder you're giving them my good food – you ripped them off." She snickered at me and proceeded to pile up food onto two plates. Along with the breaded chicken and the rice balls, an assortment of steamed veggies and light fruity sauce adorned the plates. "Just bring the plates back – washed if you can."

I nodded and gave her a quick one-armed hug before taking the plates from her and stepping back out into the refreshing spring afternoon.

Light filtered down through the dense treetops that surrounded this small residential area. As I made my way back to the dirt path, I saw the eyes of Jiraiya and Naruto light up as they saw the two plates of food in my hands, piles high with steaming deliciousness.

Their mouths were practically watering as I handed them their food and pointed a little ways off the path towards a felled tree that would make a decent place to stop and eat.

Naruto's stomach growled greedily as he smelled plate of heaven, "This didn't cost you anything did it? I can pay you back if you – "

But I cut him off with a stern look and a quick canceling motion with my hands. I tapped the red beaded bracelet that the blonde had tied around his wrist for safekeeping and smiled.

He didn't notice much past the "No" in my eyes and expression, and quickly started digging into the food, groaning happily with each bite.

"Absolutely wonderful," Jiraiya smiled after swallowing a bite.

I nodded and started scribbling down a small message on my scroll: _Her food's better than any restaurants in town._

Jiraiya nodded at me, "Give her my compliments." He proceeded to take another bite.

The two ate with gusto as they inhaled the plates of food. I took the empty plates from them once they were satisfied that there were no more edible scraps left to eat.

"Thanks, Kinshi – that was pretty great," Naruto smiled as he patted his stomach, "I'll have to tell my friends to find you if they come this way."

I smiled but shook my head. I tucked the plates under one arm and started scribbling away on my ink-stained scroll: _Won't be here much longer. Tell them to bring something decent to trade for food and should be fine._

As Naruto finished reading my words he looked up at me, "What? So you don't live here then?"

I shook my head and made my index and middle fingers walk down my forearm. Naruto cocked his head to the side as he stared at my hands but Jiraiya seemed to get the point, "You're a traveler."

I smiled and nodded in response.

"Where're you headed?" Naruto asked as he stretched his arms above his blonde head.

I spun my head around and pointed southwest. I pulled up my scroll and pen once again and started writing a quick message.

The blonde read my words aloud, "Eventually towards the Land of Rivers." He looked up from the scroll, "Why there?"

Again I wrote a message: _Don't have a "why". I'm just traveling._

"You've come far, I can see," Jiraiya added, "The Land of Lightning is quite a long walk from here."

My eyes widened and I questioned him silently, wondering how in the world he'd known.

The white-haired sage gave a small laugh, "You're darkly tanned skin and light colored hair gave you away – it's distinct of the Lightning Country."

I slowly nodded, still taken aback that the man could tell so much by just my appearance – even I hadn't known until I reached the Land of Fire that Lightning people had different characteristics. I finally realized it because an elderly man commented that it was unusual to see people of such tan skin and faintly colored hair outside of the Land of Lightning.

I took a deep breath and gave a smile that didn't reflect my alarm – if this man, this ninja of the Leaf, could tell my heritage from my mere appearance, I dreaded to find out how much more he could glean by spending any more time than necessary with me.

I held up the plates and pointed back towards Linita's house, signaling that I needed to be on my way.

Jiraiya nodded slowly – and I hoped he couldn't see the urgency I suddenly felt to get away from him. "We should be moving on as well."

"Nice to meet you Kinshi!" Naruto smiled, "Thanks for the great food."

I gave him a "don't worry about it" gesture and turned away from them with a small wave. I headed back towards Linita's house to escape from the two ninja's presence as quickly as possible.

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><p><strong>So i hope you've enjoyed the first snippet~! What are your thoughts? Like, dislike? I know it was a little short, but that's just becase it was the first chapter. Hope you'll stick around to see what happens next~!<strong>

**Thanks for Reading and don't forget to Review on your way out xD**


	2. Tenshi Hikari

**Hey~! So my muse for this story has really invaded my brain - here is the second chapter :) Hope you like it**

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><p><strong>Chapter 2<strong>

Jiraiya and Naruto stared after the girl's small frame as she walked quickly away, her white blonde hair rippling down her back with each step she took, and waited for her to disappear into the house of her friend.

"Hmm," Jiraiya thought aloud.

"What?" Naruto asked. He was excited and ready to continue onward – home was just a few more days away and he was eager to see everyone again…one pink-framed face in particular.

Jiraiya turned towards his student, "Just a little thought. Our little friend was quite interesting."

"Kinshi?" the blonde asked. He seemed to think about something for a minute then continued, "I guess – I think your pervyness scared her away though."

The white-haired sage gave Naruto a quick slap upside the head, "Come on – I want to snoop around town a little."

Naruto groaned, "Please no more _research_ – I just want to get home."

This comment earned him another slap upside the head. "A different kind of snooping," The sage muttered, "Something seems familiar about that girl and I want to find out what it is."

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><p>I washed dishes for Linita in her sink, helping her out and offering the middle-aged woman a silent ear to release her built-up gossip reservoir onto. As she stirred meat that was stewing in a large pot, she turned to me, "So I heard that that hooligan, Pochino has been harassing you lately." She gave me a concerned look as she kept stirring.<p>

I shrugged and continued on with my task.

Her stare dropped to her hands as she spoke, "Is that why you're leaving? Because if he's giving you trouble, I don't mind putting you up for a bit – the house'll be crowded but one more person shouldn't be a problem. And I wouldn't mind the company." She offered me a small smile and set down the wooden spoon she'd been using to stir the stew.

I shook my head at her and dried my hands on the stomach of my dark green tank top. I turned to face the kind woman and started scribbling away on my scroll. _He's not the reason, _I wrote, _I just want to move on – don't like to stay put for too long and I've already been here a month._

Linita gave me a soft smile after reading my words, "I know, you've told me before – you're just a wandering soul…but I feel bad seeing you all alone."

I touched her arm gently and she pulled me into a warm hug, "Well, if you're ever back in the area, drop by – I might have some of my noodles that you like so much."

I smiled and pulled slowly out of her arms. I nodded in reply, knowing full well that I would never be back here again. When I traveled, I went forward and never looked back. There was always something new to find up ahead, some new adventure awaiting me – what was the point of going backwards? Behind me was the past – nothing but countless places I've already seen, adventures I'd already had, and things I'd already experienced.

I gave Linita a small wave as I turned and headed out, stepping out of her house and into the late afternoon sunlight. The thought of leaving and getting back onto the proverbial road made my heart light and giddy. My quick steps were accented with small bounces as I hurried back up the dirt pathway towards the town so that I could cross into the woods on the other side of Kikkiyo where I had my small camp set up.

When I traveled I usually set up a campsite a little ways out of town – most of the time amidst a forest or some other clearing surrounded by nature where I could keep to myself and enjoy the beautiful solitude of the wilderness.

I let my thoughts wander as I walked, mentally listing all the things that needed to be done in order to pack up and debating with myself whether it was smart to leave today even though in a few hours the sun would start to set, or if I should set out tomorrow morning and travel when the world was still drowsy and serene.

As I reached the main road of Kikkiyo, familiar footsteps surrounded me once again. I had been so lost in thought that I'd failed to notice the not-so-sneaky movements of Pochino's posse. I cursed myself for forgetting one of the ultimate rules of the road that I'd learned over the years.

Always be aware of your surroundings.

But my excitement at the prospect of traveling had overruled that fundamental, and now I was surrounded by goonish faces, all smiling warily at me.

I didn't like those smiles, but I liked the one on Pochino's strongly jawed face the least. Said gang-leader suddenly stepped in front of me, blocking my path to the main road and keeping me right in the mouth of an alley between a butcher's shop and an abandoned sake bar that reeked of rot and stale alcohol.

"So – we never got to finish our conversation, Kinshi." Pochino ran a dirty finger down the side of my face. A disgusted shiver ran down my spine at the unwanted contact – in mere moments the guy had ruined all of my previous excitement.

Before I could stop myself, I slapped his hand away from my face.

Usually I wasn't so stupid, but I guess my judgment was a bit off that day.

My response seemed to be exactly what Pochino had been waiting for, and as a few of his gang _ooh-_ed at me like silly children watching their friend get scolded, Pochino's rough hand grabbed me by the neck and threw me backwards.

I hit the ground on the small amount of padding that my butt provided and skidded backwards away, using my already scraped up hands to keep my upper body balanced upright. I felt the skin on my palms tearing further on rocks that stuck up from the hard-packed dirt alleyway and groaned inwardly as pain stuck my hands like billions of tiny needles.

I brought them to my stomach, holding in the sounds of pain that I desperately longed to release, when other hands grabbed me from beneath my arms and slammed my back into the decaying wall of the abandoned pub.

Notabi's stony face was the culprit this time, pinning me to the wall by the shoulders. Pochino's laugh came from behind the second-in-command, as the grip on my body was released and I was allowed to slide down the wall in pain. I dropped to my knees and eased my stinging hands against my flat stomach.

Now in addition to my hands hurting, my back also prickled with soreness.

Pochino moved closer and stood right in front of me, towering over my kneeling figure as if he were a King and I a lowly servant who'd disobeyed a command, "Now, Kinshi – are you going to show me this power you've got hidden up your sleeves, or are you going to make me beat it out of you? As much as I like your pretty face, I won't hesitate to add a few more scars to it." Pochino's grin had widened and he brought a kunai knife out of the waistband of his pants.

My stinging hand brought a finger to the dirt and I drew out a small and clumsy message: _Nothing to show._

Pochino laughed again, "You're still sticking to that story? Don't lie to me, bitch – I can see that strange chakra flowing through your body. I've never seen anything like it. So either show me what it can do, or I'll beat you until you're left with no other choice."

In a split second I took stock of myself and realized I still had my satchel hanging at my hip. I had to suppress a smile as I realized what was hidden in one of the side pockets.

Slowly I staggered to my feet, careful not to anger my back anymore than necessary, and forced my eyes to meet his. They were a muddy green that reminded me of dirty river water. I spat at his feet in response to his threats.

He smirked at me and made to strike me with the kunai's pointed blade.

The moment his arm moved, I ducked beneath his blow and thrust my heels into his stomach. I managed to get enough force into my double punch that I knocked him back a few steps, leaving me free to escape.

Unluckily, my easy escape was suddenly blocked by Notabi's threatening figure. My stinging hand plunged into my satchel's side pocket and found what I was looking for. As the large man readied himself for a blade or weapon of some sort that he believed I was reaching for, I made my second move.

I eyed the gap between him and the wall of the butcher's shop, and threw down the small object I'd retrieved from my bag.

Thick purple smoke suddenly clouded the area and enveloped us all in a haze that let in little to no sunlight.

I quickly used my memory to slip through the gap between Notabi and the brick wall of the butcher's shop and ran as fast as my skinny legs could carry me. My heart was pumping fast, and my adrenaline was up, but at least I hadn't panicked.

If I had, there was no telling how much damage I could have done.

I coughed out the last of the purple smoke from my home-made smoke bombs, and for the first time in a long while thanked Rekki for the few good things that came out of my childhood.

But this was no time to be thinking of the past – as I darted through town, oblivious to all around me but the path that would take me to my campsite, I forced myself to concentrate on what I could pack in a hurry so that I could get out of town in the next few minutes.

The purple haze left by the smoke bomb would only last a few minutes, and by then the guys would have figured out that I'd gotten away. I was sure they'd knew the general direction of my campsite if not the specific placement of it, so I had to get packed and ready to leave before they could get there.

Urgency raced through my veins, as I pushed my legs to run faster than they were capable. I would definitely be sore in the morning, but what was a little soreness compared to being caught, cut, and bloodied by Pochino's gang?

My feet knew the pathway through the forest well, weaving instinctively through trees and around boulders and protruding tree roots. Birds sang happily from above me, oblivious to the troubles facing me. I could hear them rustling about in the treetops and twittering to each other.

Eventually my small camp came into view. It was nothing more than a shabby tent decorated with small trinkets I'd either bought in town or found out in the forests. Feathers that I'd found in the forest and dyed vibrant colors hung off of the tent-posts, painted glass shards and beads were sitting out on spare rags to dry, animal skins were draped across low tree branches, a small fire pit was surrounded by a few pans and dishes that I'd accumulated, and my lucky walking stick was propped up against the side of the tent's canvas. For the past month, this had been my base. I would make my trinkets, paint my beads, and put together cheap jewelry so that I could sell them in town, mostly to fellow travelers like myself or younger children who'd gotten a little money to buy a treat or new toy.

It had been a nice place, situated in a small clearing surrounded on all sides by low-branched trees. There had even been a small freshwater stream a few minutes away that was perfect for baths and washing clothes. As much as I wanted to admire it a little more before taking off, I had to pack quickly.

I ducked into my small tent, and after wrapping my hands in clean rags, I grabbed my folded travel pack that I usually used as a pillow. I unzipped it and started throwing my few articles of clothing into it in a frantic hurry to get done and out of there. I knew that not all of my things would fit in such a short amount of time so I threw in all of my beads, feathers, dyes and paints, my tarp that I used for my tent cover, the closest animal furs that I could grab, my thin bedroll, and a few other necessities that I would need for living in the woods.

Satisfied with what I had, I zipped up my pack and threw it onto my back, almost throwing me out of balance. My bound hands grabbed the straps that clung to my shoulders and I started to head into the woods to find a place to throw Pochino off my trail.

But today was not turning out to be lucky for me, as I saw movement from the side of the clearing that led to Kikkiyo. I knew what it was, and yet, the heavy pack on my back weighed me down too much to dodge it.

A kunai came flying from the trees to the west of my clearing and sank into my upped thigh.

I bit at my lip to keep myself from screaming out as blood trickled down my right leg. As my bound hands reached down to pull the enemy knife out of my leg, a barrage of footsteps flooded into the picked over campsite I had been trying to leave.

"That was pretty sneaky, Kinshi – but it won't happen again," Pochino stepped into the clearing after his men and ordered, "Take her bags from her and check her for any more surprises."

Two of his goons were suddenly at my sides, tearing off my travel pack and satchel. As I struggled to keep my stinging hands pressed down on my bleeding thigh, I felt large hands trailing down my body, feeling for weapons – or that was the excuse anyways.

I shot a hateful glare at Pochino as he swaggered forward.

One of the phantom hands tracing my curves grabbed at my arms and yanked me to stand upright, pulling my hands away from my wound. Blood now soaked the once-clean rags I had tied to keep the dirt out of my scraped up palms and trickled down the mocha-tanned skin of my legs.

It took all of my self-control not to cry out in pain as the second goon gripped my other arm with fingers that felt like a vice clamping down on my thin arm.

Pochino eyed the walking stick I had left lying propped against a tree and took it into his hands with a smile. He tested its weight by lifting it up and down and banged its end against the ground a few times. As he walked slowly closer, he brought my once-lucky walking stick up in a position ready to strike.

I clenched my teeth as hard as I could as he said with a smirk, "Hold her still."

The vices on my arms somehow seemed to grip tighter, and I forced my emotions so solidify. I knew what was coming next, but unless I wanted to kill these men and anyone within a three mile radius in a horrible fashion, I couldn't scream. I couldn't even utter a sound if I didn't want to become a mass murderer.

The walking stick in his hands finally came down and connected with my injured right leg. Horrible pain shot through my entire body, and as the hits kept coming – all centered on my legs – my mind screamed in pain. My stomach heaved and my throat begged to mercilessly scream out.

Amidst all the pain and urges to vomit and scream bloody murder, I felt a familiar burn start up behind my eyes. It was then that I really started to panic.

Pochino must have seen the activity in my chakra because he stopped hitting my battered legs.

I cursed myself – I had been so concerned with restricting my voice that I'd loosened my hold on the power that usually remained dormant inside of my body.

"I think I'm finally going to see something interesting," Pochino mused aloud. He propped himself up on the bloodied walking stick and watched me with eager eyes.

My eyes felt as if they were on fire, and a piercing heat seemed to bubble inside of my brain. The fearsome Tenshi-Hikari was past the point of no return – the only solution I had was to get away from here.

I clenched my teeth tighter as the burning pain behind my eyes doubled, and soon boiling tears leaked from my eyes and fell down the scars on my face that had formed due to previous tears of the same nature.

As I looked up, hoping to find a way to escape and put a little distance between me and these men, I saw Pochino watching me with a face akin to childish excitement. "Your eyes," me muttered in awe.

I knew what he was seeing – and if my eyes had already reached that stage, there was no way I'd be able to get away in time to give them a chance to live.

Suddenly, cries and a few small explosions rang out from around me. I watched a few of Pochino's goons fall to the ground after taking kunai to the chest, and a tree falling on a few others as a paper bomb went off and brought it down into the clearing.

A familiar head of blonde hair dropped down from the treetops – but due to the pain in my eyes I must have been seeing double. There were two heads of spiky blonde hair, and in the hands of one a spinning ball of angry chakra formed.

As Naruto let out a small battle cry, he pressed the ball of chakra into the wide chest of Notabi, who was sent flying into the woods to Naruto's right with a large wound where the chakra connected.

If I had any doubts that he was a real ninja, they were dispelled now. I watched from my place on the ground – Pochino's goons had let go of me in fear once the explosions felled that tree, and I had collapsed to the forest floor – as Naruto single-handedly took out all of the goon's in Pochino's gang.

But Pochino was too focused on me to care about his henchmen.

The blonde came from behind and sent a kick into the distracted gang-leader's spine, knocking him to the ground a few yards away from me. As Naruto came to my side, presumably to check on me, he stopped dead in his tracks.

His blue eyes creased in confusion as they met mine, "Weren't your eyes brown before?" His head cocked to the side.

Suddenly, the Tenshi-Hikari released itself and a familiar but excruciating pain exploded behind my eyes. It felt as if my eyes had been replaced by hot embers. The heat in my normally brown eyes began to expel itself into the area around me, and soon a glittering orb filled with golden light filled the air around me.

It took all I had not to scream.

I focused my eyes on Naruto, whose blonde hair matched the golden light almost flawlessly. He was staring in wonder at the light that was expanding, and took a small step so that he was within the orb of golden light that was streaming from my eyes.

I gave him a pleading look and pointed towards the trees. If he wanted to live, he needed to get as far away from me as possible. As beautiful as the light seemed, it was dangerous and completely lethal. No one had survived it yet, and though I'd never tried it out on a ninja, who probably had a better chance at doing just that, I really didn't want to test out my theory on the nice kid who'd bought something from me.

I tried to mouth the words "Run" and "Go", but he wasn't looking at my lips.

I saw a relaxed smile spread across his lips, and I knew what the Tenshi-Hikari was doing.

Soon I felt the light sucking at all the chakra in the area and pushing it back into my body. The light seemed to taste the natural chakra in the woods and air, and the chakra from the goons who'd been knocked out from Naruto's attacks, but kept coming back to the blonde for more.

As the light pushed the absorbed chakra back into my body I could tell that it was very excited. I felt the light sucking the life from Naruto's body as quickly as it could. The boy had a surprising amount of chakra welled up inside of him, but the golden light couldn't get enough of it. More and more of it was leaving his body as the light ate it with gusto – but Naruto could only smile as more and more of his power and energy was ripped away from his body by the light's absorbing hands.

As his chakra transferred to by body, it felt thicker than most others as it integrated itself with my own chakra.

I wanted to stop it. The power was killing him.

But I had no control.

Once my power had been let loose, there was no restraining it until it was finished sucking the life out of everything nearby.

As quickly as it came, the golden orb of light pulled itself back into my eyes with burning pain and settled down inside me, taking on its normal dormant state. I clenched my eyes shut in relief that the pain was gone, but after hearing a muffled thump I dreaded opening them again.

I knew that the sound had been Naruto's body collapsing to the ground beside me, and I was afraid to open my eyes and see his unmoving body lying there beside me. I was afraid to see him lying dead like all the others in the past – dead because he had happened to be too close to me.

My body felt sluggish – Naruto's chakra was taking a lot of energy to digest, so to speak. My own chakra was trying to assimilate it into itself, but the boy's chakra was much thicker than what I was used to, and therefore much more troublesome to work with.

My eye lids grew heavy, which gave me all the more reason not to open them.

Salty tears came to my eyes – ones that weren't boiling this time. I knew what I'd see if I opened them.

He had only tried to save me from Pochino, and I'd just killed him.

I'd just killed someone who had saved me.

I could do nothing but sob without sound as I let my body lay in pain on the forest floor.

That was until a voice stopped me.

A small internal groan came from mere feet away and a familiar voice followed, "Wha – what was that?"

I froze; the sobs that were racking my rib-cage ceased. Even my tears stopped halfway down my scarred face.

My eyes suddenly snapped open, fear now forming where guilt once was as I thought I had heard a ghost.

But no.

Naruto was on his hands and knees as he shook his blonde head back and forth. Once he stopped this motion his blue eyes came to mine. Once again his head cocked to the side in confusion, "Your eyes are back to normal now…"

I stared in shock, praying that he wasn't just a ghost or figment of my pain-altered imagination. I wanted to poke him, test to see if he was solid, but I could tell by the shadows and the way his fingers left marks in the dirt as he struggled to get to his feet that he was real.

He was alive.

I felt my jaw drop and hang open.

Just to be sure I reached out my blood-stained hand and pressed it against his arm.

My fingers touched the course fabric of his black and orange jacket and pressed hard into his bicep.

He was definitely solid, and not a ghost-image from my warped brain.

Naruto was alive, and it was then that my body decided to give out and my brain finally gave into the invitation of unconsciousness sent to me from the horrible pain in my legs and the depletion in my energy because of the Tenshi-Hikari.

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><p><strong>So hope you liked it - feel free to review, tell me what you think and what-not. Also, please tell me if you spot any major mistakes (spelling is kind of the bane of my existence of a writer lol so any help spotting the runaway spellings would help me a lot)<strong>

**Also, thought you'd like to know _Kinshi _ means "Gold Death" in Japanese (according to Google Translations lol) but her family name (which she hasn't mentioned yet) _Shiawase_ means "Happy" lol so her name basically means Happy Gold-Death xD or maybe Happy Death of Gold lol not quite sure**


	3. After Effects

**Hey xD Here's another update for you lol hope you like it**

**And thanks to all who've reviewed! I'm glad people are liking my newest brainchild lol**

Disclaimer: *I do not own Naruto, but Kinshi is mine*

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><p><strong>Chapter 3<strong>

Naruto tried to get to his feet, but found that his balance was all but gone. "My chakra's gone," he muttered as he fell back to the ground on his behind. He just sat there staring at Kinshi, who had just passed out, trying to remember what had happened.

His thoughts and mind was a little hazy due to the loss of chakra, but he did remember a strange golden light coming from Kinshi's eyes…

He gasped as he realized that her eyes had changed color. When they had first met, her eyes had been a sharp brown that practically sparkled when she laughed her silent laugh – but when he'd seen her just now, emitting that strange orb of light, they had changed to a flickering gold. Her irises had been replaced by golden fire that danced around her shrunken black pupil.

Just thinking about her golden eyes made his mind go a little fuzzy, and he remembered that guy with the walking stick just staring at her calmly while the rest of his band of lowlifes had been getting cut down by the blonde ninja.

And then, once he had looked into her eyes, he remembered nothing but a feeling of euphoria and the urgency to hand over all his chakra to the hungry golden light. He remembered feeling comfortably warm and safe inside that light and shuddered to think what could have happened if the light had stayed longer.

The Nine-Tails might have been able to break free.

Naruto sighed and left his head get light. He wanted nothing more than to lay down and sleep just as Kinshi had, but he had seen the state of her legs. He wished he had gotten here a few minutes sooner so he could have stopped that man from beating her legs so badly. Her tanned skin housed darker patches of blood where the walking stick had actually broken the skin, and sickly purple splotches that would he large angry bruises by nightfall. He hoped her legs weren't broken, but knew that it was a good possibility.

He looked around and saw the motionless bodies of the seven men who'd been chasing Kinshi. Naruto had been waiting outside a small shop waiting for Jiraiya when he saw Kinshi flying fast on her thin legs, almost to the point that her knees looked close to giving out. He had vaguely wondered why she was in such a hurry when he spotted the purple smoke and heard the infuriated cries of a group of men, who minutes later had come stumbling and coughing out of the smoke.

They took off in the direction that Kinshi had at a slightly slower pace than she. If Naruto had started following them right then, she probably wouldn't have been so badly hurt, but he had gone inside the shop to tell Jiraiya that he was going to check something out.

Jiraiya was too busy flirting with the lady shopkeeper to listen much to Naruto's words, so the blonde decided to take off after Kinshi. By the time he'd gotten to the clearing, her legs had already been whacked up and the man with the walking stick had started to talk about seeing something interesting.

Footsteps crunched down the pathway that came from town, and soon a mass of thick white hair appeared between the trees.

Jiraiya looked at Naruto and Kinshi with a raised eyebrow, "I leave you for one second and you manage to find trouble."

"I told you I was checking something out – Kinshi was in trouble."

The sage looked around the clearing, spotting the bodies that littered the floor. He knelt next to the closest one and pressed his index and middle fingers to the burly man's neck. "Still alive…what happened? All the chakra in the area seems depleted."

Naruto's slightly dizzy head cocked to the side, "You can tell?"

Jiraiya nodded, "What happened?"

Naruto scratched the back of his neck and tried once again to stumble to his feet. This time he managed to keep his balance. "These guys were chasing after Kinshi – when I got here, they'd beaten her legs up pretty bad and were waiting for her to do something. I started taking them out, and didn't see her eyes until they had all been knocked unconscious…she had this strange power that ended up sucking the chakra out of me."

Jiraiya nodded, "But not just you – all the natural chakra has been absorbed as well, and I'm pretty sure these guys are missing some too, or else they'd probably be waking up easier."

The blonde didn't understand much about the natural chakra, but nodded his head anyways. He glanced down to the unconscious Kinshi and said, "I never felt anything like it before…I felt so happy and I couldn't stop myself from giving my body's chakra to that light."

Jiraiya's eyes creased, "What light?"

"Golden light came from her eyes after they changed color – it was shaped like an orb and ended up surrounding us completely. It felt so warm and comfortable, like being wrapped in a blanket or something…I felt kinda hypnotized."

Jiraiya was silent for a minute, "That sounds familiar."

Naruto's eyes widened, "Really? You know what power she has?"

The sage nodded slowly, "I think so, but I can't be sure – I didn't think it existed anymore…"

"Well? What is it?" Naruto asked curiously, eager to find out what that golden light was that had drained him of most of his power. The blonde guessed that if it hadn't been for his unnatural amount of chakra within his body, he could have died. Chakra is the life force of all ninja, and running completely out could prove fatal.

"I want to be positive before I start telling you about it…it seems we have a few questions to ask our new friend when she wakes up." The sage looked down at the small framed girl, lying unconscious on the ground and really hoped it instinct was wrong.

Because if it wasn't, it meant that the pretty girl at his feet was exponentially more deadly than she looked.

Who would have thought that he'd come across the Angel's Light again, here on the doorstep of the Hidden Leaf Village of all places?

* * *

><p>I woke to the familiar sounds of the forest at night accompanied by the crackles and pops of an oak fire. I was close enough to said fire to feel the heat tracing my bare shoulders and battling away the gentle coolness of the summer night.<p>

I finally got my eyes to flicker open, greeted by the vast night sky. The starts sent me their twinkling good wishes from their stationary place in the heavens. I lifted my head a little to take stock of myself. As I lifted my hands into the light of the fire I could see clean bandages, rather than bloodied rags binding them. I looked down to my legs and saw that those too had been wrapped up, my right leg held straight with a splint created from a stripped piece of wood strong enough to make sure my bone repaired itself the right way but thin enough not to weigh me down too badly. I hoped it was nothing worse than a small fracture, but it wouldn't have been unlikely for it to have broken in a few small places – Pochino had really done a number on me.

"Just a small fracture as far as I can tell – but then, I'm not a medical ninja so I can't be sure," A familiar voice spoke. I propped myself up onto my elbows and looked towards the voice and saw Jiraiya's white mane sitting across the fire from me.

I was about to write Thank-you in the loamy dirt beside me when I my memories of what happened earlier suddenly flooded back to me. My panic-laced eyes searched the area for Naruto, hoping to find that I really didn't kill him as I had thought before I passed out.

The older ninja seemed to read my thoughts and pointed behind me, "He's sleeping over there – your ninjutsu really did a number on him."

I struggled to look behind me, twisting myself in an uncomfortable way despite the internal protests of my aching spine and followed Jiraiya's pointed finger. I sighed with relief as I saw Naruto's blonde head protruding from a cocoon of blanket, which moved rhythmically up and down with his constant and healthy breaths.

As I turned back to face the sage, he asked sternly, "I'd like you to tell me what that ability of yours is."

My eyes darted down to the fire to avoid meeting his darker ones. I could feel him staring at me, waiting for my response, but I couldn't give it. If I did, bad things would end up happening for me and eventually anyone near me. I found out the consequences of trusting someone a few years back, and I wasn't ready to repeat the mistake.

I let my hand fall to the dirt and start etching out a small message: _No. Not safe._

After a few seconds I could feel his gaze return to me, "You think I'd hurt you?"

I nodded my head without making eye contact and wrote: _Not at first. Eventually._

"I think I already know – but it would save us all a lot of hassle if you told me."

I shook my head and let my silent lips tighten into a thin line.

Jiraiya sighed, "Well, get some sleep if you won't talk – we have a long journey ahead of us."

My eyes widened and I couldn't help but look up at him in alarm.

_We?_ I asked via the forest floor.

"Yes," Jiraiya nodded, "That leg needs fixing and there are plenty of skilled healers where Naruto and I are headed."

My eyes widened further and after dusting away my previous words I drew the symbol for the Hidden Leaf Village.

Jiraiya nodded.

My insides were spinning and my mind was irrationally telling me to run away.

They were taking me back to their village – they were going to run tests on me. Look through my mind, push my powers to their limits, try to take it out of me so that they could have it for themselves – and once they realized that the power was permanently bound to my flesh there were only so many things they could do with me…

The most merciful option would be death, but I was sure they'd try to find a way to force me to be a weapon for them – they'd use me up until I was no longer helpful and then they'd kill me…or cut me up and study me some more.

My mind went through thousands of scenarios, each just as deranged and frightening as the last.

I shook my head at the sage and furiously started to scratch another message into the ground. _Let me go. Sorry for hurting Naruto. Please leave me alone._

"I'm not going to leave an injured girl to fend for herself in the wilderness – you're coming with us, even if I have to carry you," Jiraiya replied. He stretched his arms and settled himself down on the ground, preparing himself for sleep, "So get some sleep – I don't know what you think we're going to do to you, but if you'd just trust me I can promise that it's not anything worth your panic."

I sent a scowl at my words on the ground. He at least had a point about getting some sleep – I'd probably be able to think better on how to escape once I was well rested.

My scowl faded into a thin line again as I eased myself back down onto my back. As soon as my head touched the ground my body gave into sleep and I was drifting in a sea of darkness.

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><p>It was quite humiliating. I liked to consider myself a tough woods-woman – able to handle any difficulty Mother Nature threw at me, and smart enough to get myself out of any bad situation – but my current state was anything but tough or smart. With one leg in a splint and the other so badly bruised and battered that it hurt to put any weight on it, I was left relying on my enemy to carry me to their village.<p>

Ero-senin, as Naruto affectionately called Jiraiya, carried my travel pack while Naruto carried me on his back. True, I was glad that the Tenshi-Hikari hadn't killed him, but I was beginning to regret selling him my bracelet and befriending the two of them. Despite their kind acts of saving me from Pochino and patching me up, they were the enemy, and worse, Naruto didn't seem to understand that. Against my will, they were taking me to their village, where I was sure they'd start to run tests on me.

Sure, they'd start off by fixing my leg and trying to win me over with some acts of kindness and hospitality, but eventually they'd treat me like a lab-rat that had something they wanted. I knew that eventually they'd start trying to find away to take this horrible power from me because it had happened before.

I scorned the Land of Rice Patties and the power-hungry clan I had happened across there. They'd taken two years of my life away, and all they really got out of it was the decimation of their entire people.

I tore my thoughts away from the past with a few deep breaths to keep myself and the dormant Tenshi-Hikari calm and under control.

"It should only take a couple more days to get there – I'm so excited! I bet everyone's a lot stronger now," Naruto babbled excitedly. He looked over his shoulder at me as I hung onto his back with my skinny arms wrapped around his neck, "You'll love it there – I'm glad you decided to come along."

I rolled my eyes incredulously at him – I knew blondes were supposed to be dumb, but he was really giving the rest of us a bad reputation. How dense could he be?

Apparently very, because he didn't seem to notice my irritation towards him as he kept talking, "Once we get there, I'll introduce you to everyone! Hopefully they still recognize me."

"You're too loud to forget," Jiraiya teased, "I know, because if I could, I would have already."

Naruto scoffed and seemed to ignore the slight dealt by the older ninja, "Three years is a long time – they might not recognize me because I've gotten so much cooler since I last saw them."

I tapped on Naruto's shoulder. As he looked back at me I creased my brows and held up three fingers with a questioning gaze.

He nodded. "I've been training for the past three years," He gave me a strong smile, "There's someone I need to keep up with – and I'm not going to let him get stronger than I am."

I heard Jiraiya let out a small sigh, but he didn't add anything to the subject.

I gave a small nod to Naruto to indicate that I understood. Immediately he plunged into more stories of his friends, and I got the feeling that our trip to the Village Hidden in the Leaves was going to be a long and very vocal one.

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><p>Later than night, both Naruto and I feel asleep as soon as we laid down to rest, but when I woke up in the early hours of the morning when the sky was just starting to brighten a little, I saw that he too had woken up early. I pushed myself into an upright position, making sure to keep my legs still and straight, and gave him a small wave.<p>

He yawned and tried to say "good morning" at the same time, but it ended up coming out as a mish-mash of elongated syllables.

I gave a silent laugh and poked at the crimson embers of last night's fire with a stray stick.

The blonde scooted himself around the fire so that he was situated next to me. "So how long have you not been able to talk?" he asked, keeping his voice slightly hushed so as not to wake up Jiraiya, who was snoring a little ways away from us, sleeping sprawled out on a bed roll.

I counted the years since I last spoke and held up four fingers – I hadn't really been keeping track of my time spent traveling, but knew that I'd last spoken in the Land of Rice Patties, and I was pretty sure that had been about four years ago, give or take a couple months.

Naruto gave a soft whistle, "Wow – so did something happen to your vocal chords or something?"

I pursed my lips, debating over what I should and shouldn't tell him and finally decided on a partial truth. I pulled my scroll and pen from my travel pack which was close by and wrote: _I vowed that I wouldn't speak anymore. It's a very important promise to myself._

Naruto nodded, "So back when you were getting hurt…you didn't even let yourself scream?"

I nodded.

I expected him to either tease me or ask more questions, but the blonde surprised me by looking more impressed than anything. "That's something I can understand. That promise must be pretty important for you to stay silent even during an emergency like that."

I nodded again.

"I made a promise like that – back before I left the village. I promised my friend – the one I bought the bracelet for – that I'd bring someone back after they ran away. That promise is part of why I had to get stronger, even though a lot of people have tried to get me to let it go. Some people just don't understand that promises like that should never be broken."

I nodded and scribbled down a note: _Promises aren't worth making unless you mean to keep them_.

Naruto smiled at my written words and nodded, "Exactly."


	4. Home of the Enemy

**Hey everyone~! Here's the next chapter - hope you like it xD**

**~Enjoy~**

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><p><strong>Chapter 4:<strong>

It was mid-afternoon about a week later when the large green and red painted gates of the Leaf Village came into sight. I was hobbling along a few steps behind Naruto, who'd only yesterday given into my demands of independence and let me gimp along on my own for the last leg of the journey. I hated to rely on him, and despite my splinted leg, my other one had lost most of its soreness, unless I started poking at the nasty looking bruises that had formed on my skin.

It was probably bad to walk on it so soon, as the exercise might end up adding to the damage the medical ninja's had to fix, but I figured it would help us slow down some and delay our journey by a small portion.

Neither ninja had asked me about the light that my eyes had given off, so I figured Jiraiya had gotten Naruto to stay silent about it. It seems they were going to leave the interrogating for the experts – I was sure that this village probably had thousands of techniques and tortures at the ready for information gathering and getting prisoners to talk.

Or, in my case, write.

As we stepped through the open barrier and into the territory of this nation's official ninja village, I heard murmurs to the left of us.

"Is that…?" I heard one of the voices asked mutedly.

I looked in time to see the owner of the second voice nod. There was a little booth off to the right of the gate, where two men sat idly, both sporting headbands with the symbol of Konoha branded onto the center.

Jiraiya placed a hand on my back as well as one on Naruto's and steered us towards the booth.

One of the ninja who had a bandage going across the bridge of his nose gave out a small laugh, "So Naruto's finally returned, huh?"

"And you brought back a girlfriend?" the other teased as his eyes darted over to me.

I quickly shook my head as Jiraiya laughed, "Naruto doesn't have enough tact for such a nice catch – she's just a visitor."

Both Naruto and I sent scowl's in the white-haired sage's direction, though I was suppressing a small blush in my cheeks. He was making me feel uncomfortable on purpose, that damned pervy-sage.

"Name?" the bandage guy asked, turning down to gather up a paper and an ink brush.

"Uhh," Jiraiya looked down at me for a moment, but then answered, "Just Kinshi for the moment – no family name."

Bandage Face nodded, "Alright – she's checked in." He smiled up at Naruto and the Pervy-Sage, "Welcome back you two."

Naruto grinned widely, "Thanks! Ja ne!

The three of us started walking again, Naruto in the lead, while I trailed close behind him.

I was all eyes as we walked through the Village Hidden in the Leaves. All the buildings seemed neat and well-kept, ranging from stores and shops to houses and hotels. People of all ages wandered along the streets, going about their business and basically ignoring anyone who wasn't necessary. I got a few looks here and there but they never lingered too long.

On the cliff-face in the distance, five faces of stone stoically looked upon the village, eternal guardians carved into the earth. The newest and less weather-worn face was that of a beautiful woman with a diamond in the middle of her forehead. Naruto caught me looking at the faces and he said informatively, "Those are the Hokage of the village – the woman on the end is Granny Tsunade, our fifth Hokage."

I nodded at his words, slightly intrigued that a woman had been chosen to lead, and figured that it must be a testament to her power. I bet she was strong – and that worried me. My enemy was no longer just two ninja, but a whole village which seemed to be led by a powerful Kunoichi.

Naruto's smile never faded from his face. He looked around with almost as much curiosity as me and sighed, "Man – this place hasn't changed a bit! It's almost like I was never gone."

Suddenly, he bounded up a large column that stuck up from the ground, using chakra to keep his feet touching the surface of the pillar. He reached the top and gave the village a good sweeping look. I was surprised when he started yelling out into the summer afternoon, but soon lost interest with his yelled conversation with the village as motion from behind me caught my eye.

A small band of four, led by a girl with short pink hair came running up. She shouted, "Hey Naruto! Is that you?"

The three smaller kids behind her all waved and grinned at the blonde, who was now looking down.

"Sakura-chan!" He shouted excitedly. He leapt off of the tall pillar and landed a few steps away from the newly gathered group.

I recognized the name as the girl he had bought the bracelet for – he had spent a lot our traveling time giving me every detail about the girl, from her light pink hair to her short temper. As he approached her, I saw that he wanted to greet her with a hug, but settled with just a warm smile.

She laughed, "Naruto – wait…have you gotten taller than me?"

As the pinkette and the blonde started into some small talk, and the younger trio of kids all greeted Naruto, I thought briefly back to one of the many topics Naruto had brought up along our journey towards the enemy's base – one of which had been the pink-haired girl.

"_Sakura-chan and I were put in the same team back when we graduated from the Academy," he gave a nervous smile and confessed quietly, "I've probably missed her the most."_

_I raised my brow and pushed my scroll with a written message on it: Girlfriend?_

_He immediately stammered a few _"no"_'s and _"she's just a friend"_'s but it was apparent that he liked her._

_He sighed and looked vaguely at the road ahead of us, "She's already in love with someone." His voice was quiet, compared to his usual loud demeanor._

_I patted his shoulder – though I didn't know the pains of unrequited love, I knew a pain similar enough to understand that what he was going though wasn't pleasant. The heart, if left unguarded, was one of the most fatal places of weakness and completely vulnerable for someone to steal it away._

As I came back to reality, I could see the truth in Naruto's defeated statement – as happy as the pink-haired girl was to see him, the love and care that shone in her eyes was purely that of friendship.

"Naruto!" one of the two boys in the smaller trio shouted challengingly with a pointed finger, "See the success of my three years of training!" The young boy's face was ripe with confidence, as if completely sure he was about to blow Naruto away with some new move he had learned in the blonde's absence.

"Ero-ninjutsu!" the boy shouted as a puff of smoke surrounded him.

As the smoke started to disappear, the jutsu was revealed. What once was a young boy with messy brown hair and a ridiculously long scarf wrapped around his neck, was now a well endowed girl who was completely naked except for small tufts of smoke that covered her womanly assets, and the boy's scarf still wrapped around _her_ neck.

The pinkette, Sakura, and I were shocked into stillness, while Jiraiya – who had mostly kept to himself while Naruto greeted his friends – was now losing a lot of blood through both nostrils.

As the _girl_ transformed back into the young boy, Naruto shook his head in a slightly disapproving manner, "Oh, Konahamaru – I don't do that sort of thing anymore…"

Sakura beside me seemed dumbfounded for a moment, her eyes widening in surprise.

That is, until Naruto fell into a stance ready for an attack and shouted, "My ero-ninjutsu has evolved into a whole other –" but the blonde was sent flying by a harsh fist to the face by none-other than the pinkette.

"NARUTO!" she shouted in an enraged state, "Here I was admiring you for your maturity, and then you go and ruin it by saying something like that! I swear, you haven't changed at all!"

The extent of her fury caused the younger kids to back away so that Jiraiya shielded them from the pinkette. Their leader, the boy Konahamaru, gave a nervous laugh, "Heh, well, see you later, Naruto nii-chan!" The little leader took off running down an intersecting street, closely followed by his two friends.

"I was wrong," Naruto mumbled as he got back to his feet from a crater in the ground created by the intensity of Sakura's punch, "You have changed – you've gotten scarier."

This earned him another onslaught of punches from the pinkette, which would have lasted quite a long time if Jiraiya hadn't interfered, "Sorry to interrupt the reunion, but we need to get Kinshi to the infirmary." The white-haired sage looked down at me disapprovingly, "Stubborn girl really shouldn't be walking on it in the first place."

Sakura's attention finally pulled away from her beaten friend and settled on me. She seemed to see me for the first time, "Oh – hello." She gave a soft smile as her eyes darted to my splinted leg, "That doesn't look good."

Jiraiya nodded, "We're pretty sure it's just a fracture, but we could be wrong. We wouldn't let her walk most of the journey here, but once her other leg healed up she wouldn't accept anymore help."

I scowled at the old man and crossed my arms.

Naruto pulled himself up from the ground for the second time, "Well, let's get her to the hospital then – it shouldn't take too long to fix her up, right?" the blonde turned to Sakura for an answer.

The pinkette hummed in thought, "About an hour of a healing jutsu, and maybe a day of recovery if it's just a small fracture." She came to my side and pulled one of my arms around her shoulders for support. I tried to pull away, but she gave me a stern look, "If you won't let them carry you, at least let me be your crutch – I can see by the way you're standing that it hurts to put pressure on it."

I pursed my lips in dislike of her solution, but gave in – the enemy was perceptive.

"I'm Haruno Sakura, by the way," she informed me pleasantly.

I gave a small nod and smile in response, and moved to grab my scroll from my satchel when Naruto grabbed my free arm and hung it around his taller shoulders. He answered for me, "She's Kinshi."

He was so much taller than I was, that my splinted leg no longer touched the ground, but instead dangled awkwardly while my left and still sore leg did a kind of hopping step to keep up with his longer strides.

Sakura, who was also taller than me by a few inches, glared over at the blonde, "Crouch down a little, Naruto – you'll end up hurting her even more."

He looked down at me and my half-dangling, half-hopping body and quickly apologized. He bent his knees and crouched a little so that I could touch both feet to the ground again.

Sakura looked down at my legs which had many similar dark blue bruises shaped like the long staff of the cursing walking stick that Pochino had used to try to get me to reveal my power. "How long ago did this happen?" She asked me, "Those bruises look a little faded but still pretty nasty."

I sent an asking look to Naruto. Since both of my hands were occupied, I had no way of answering her unless I tried to mouth out the words – which usually didn't work too well, as lip-reading could be easily misunderstood.

Naruto understood my asking glance and answered for me, "About five or six days ago."

Sakura gave Naruto an irritated look, "Could you stop interrupting her? Seriously, you're so rude sometimes."

I shook my head at her, in an attempt to correct the situation, but all I got from the pink haired girl was a strange look.

"She doesn't talk," Naruto explained for me, laughing lightly at the situation.

I nodded so that Sakura wouldn't think he was joking for whatever reason, and immediately her green eyes widened and her cheeks reddened with embarrassment. "Oh! I'm so sorry," She apologized quickly. She gave Naruto a sidelong glance, "You could have told me earlier…"

Naruto shrugged, "It's not that big of a deal."

I nodded quickly in agreement before Sakura could react to his nonchalance with another fierce glare.

Jiraiya broke in at this point from Naruto's other side, "I'm going to drop in on Tsunade and make sure she knows we're back – make sure Kinshi gets to the infirmary."

"We will," Sakura answered, "And that's _Lady _Tsunade to you, Jiraiya-sensei."

The sage scoffed at the girl and turned to the blonde on my right, "Stay with Kinshi, Naruto – don't let her leave the hospital until the doctors say so."

"Got it," Naruto grinned while giving the sage a thumbs-up.

I sent a glare over at the pervy old man and he gave me a rebellious smile in return. I knew what he was doing, that sneaky pervert – he was setting Naruto in place as my guard dog, preventing me from escape and freedom. Even if Naruto didn't see it, he was being my jailor – the shackle that kept me from running away before these seemingly decent people could turn into my captors and tormentors.

Jiraiya left the three of us to walk awkwardly to the infirmary by ourselves and soon disappeared from the range of my scowl.

Our awkward journey to the village's hospital was a long one, accompanied by odd looks from passersby and shop keepers. I didn't mind it as much, and neither did Naruto, but Sakura seemed unused to being given funny looks.

Finally we made it to the steps, and the pinkette forced me into a wheelchair so that she could transport me easily to an empty room. She turned to Naruto, "You'll have to wait outside the room until we're done working on her."

The blonde nodded and gave me a smile as Sakura whisked me away down a long hall of doorways. She called out instructions to passing nurses, who immediately dropped what they were doing so that they could fulfill her requests.

I glanced up at her – she looked the same age as me, but spoke to these older women with such authority, it was hard to believe. Due to her knowledge of medical things, I assumed she was a trainee or apprentice, but the aura of authority she was giving off told me otherwise.

My suspicions were proved correct when she pushed me into a single-bed room and helped me get onto the soft surface of the bed. Immediately she started removing the splint and the bandages used to secure it, and began to delicately run her fingers down my right leg in strange patterns.

Other nurses came in, one pushing a cart of some sort with random medical tools while others stood by the door awaiting the pinkette's command. Sakura, her fingers never leaving my shin in the area where we suspected the fracture to be, gave out orders and commands, which the other few nurses followed without hesitation. Mostly they were doing little things, like checking my blood pressure with an inflating arm-band or taking my temperature.

I raised a brow at the pinkette, who saw it and gave me a small smile, "I'm checking your body's chakra lines – so far I can see that your shin is indeed fractured, and the bone is bruised in a few places. Nothing serious though."

I nodded and allowed my body to relax a little on the soft bed.

Sakura spoke again as she pulled her fingers away from my leg, "Alright, I'm going to start the procedure – it'll probably feel a little cold, and there might be a some mild pinching, but nothing too painful."

I nodded again and gripped the side frame of the bed in preparation.

The whole healing ninjutsu took about an hour or so to complete, and Sakura's words proved to be true. When her hands illuminated with that odd green-blue glow and pressed against the bruised skin of my right leg, it felt as though my leg had been turned to ice. I had to force the gasp that tried to push its way through my throat back down inside of me. I kept my teeth clenched the entire time to prevent any more sounds from trying to escape from me.

And then the pinching started a few minutes later. The best way to describe the feeling would be to say that it felt as if a needle were stitching each disconnected cell in my fractured bone back into place. The pinches were constant and repetitive, and after about twenty minutes I was used to it, and able to lie down a little more easily for the rest of the procedure.

At the end of the hour, after more pinches and icy coldness, Sakura pulled her hands away with a satisfied sigh, letting my shin return to a normal temperature. "There," she stated, "All done. Now all you need to do is give it a day or so to rest and mend the rest of the way naturally."

I smiled at her and mouthed a quick "Thank you".

She smiled after sending the three nurses back to their original tasks, "Don't worry about it – it's what I do. Should I tell Naruto its okay to come in now?"

I gave a small nod.

She smiled at me and headed for the door, but stopped as her hand went to reach for the handle. She turned her torso towards me, "So I'm just curious but…are you and Naruto, like…?"

I understood the gist of her question and shook my head "no" very quickly.

She sighed and nodded, "Sorry – I was wondering. I was kinda hoping he'd brought home a girl."

I gave a small smile and leaned over the side of the bed to find my scroll and pen. Once I retrieved it from my satchel on the floor, I scribbled a message and handed it to her.

_He likes you too much to pay much attention to other girls._

She sighed again and said sadly, "Yeah…I know."

She pushed out the door and went to find Naruto.

* * *

><p>Hours had gone by and still neither Naruto nor the pinkette had returned to my room. A small woman who I recognized as one of my nurses from earlier came in a few times to check on me or bring me food, but other than that it seemed I had been forgotten about.<p>

I smiled to myself – this was exactly the chance I needed.

I was all heeled up, all of my stuff was on the floor beside me, and I was relatively full from the dinner the nurse had brought me. As the sun started to set and send brilliant orange light into my room's window, I pushed aside the blankets of the hospital bed and eased myself onto my feet.

I carefully put my weight on my right foot, and found that the pain that had usually resulted from this action was now gone. I smiled and figured that as long as I didn't try to run very hard on it, I would be fine and dandy to make my escape.

Though the short journey with Naruto had been decently pleasant, despite the pain my leg had been feeling, I needed to get out of there. I would let Jiraiya tell the blonde whatever he wanted about me, as long as I could make a break for my freedom.

Now the trouble was going to be getting to that front gate and slipping past the two entry-watchers…_Maybe I'd get lucky and a different set of people would be there_, I hoped to myself.

But I had to get there first before I could judge how my luck was holding up.

I bent slowly over to grab my satchel and traveling pack, only to stand back up and be greeted with a very unwanted visitor.

He sat on the window sill and shook his head at me in mock-disappointment, "Sheesh – we leave you alone for a few hours and you're already trying to sneak out on us."

My lips tightened in surprise, and I felt my face pale.

The man really was an expert sneak – Jiraiya crossed his arms over his broad chest and looked at me with those obsidian-black eyes of his that seemed to be laughing at the moment.

I let out a defeated sigh and let my satchel drop back to the floor.

"You can take off the pack too; Lady Hokage wants a quick meeting before you attempt your escape." Jiraiya swung himself into the room and stood silently, waiting for me to comply.

Grumbling inwardly, I pulled out my scroll and pen from my satchel and stuck them into my back pocket of my shorts. The pocket was a little small, so the wound-up scroll and pen stuck out most of the way.

Finally I looked back up at him, a scowl easily readable in my eyes. I gave him a curt nod, to tell him to lead the way.

The white-haired sage gave a smile that sang silently of victory, and started for the door.

* * *

><p><strong>AN: Alright, so how was it? Hopefully Sakura isn't OOC ~ she's always hard for me to write because i dislike her so much lol but she's necessary to the story so i have to put up with her haha**

**Please review and tell me what you think ~ criticism is my best friend, and i even tolerate flames if you think they're necessary lol**


	5. Enter Team 8

**Hey all! Man, i'm so happy with myself - i've been writing like crazy haha. Anywho, here's the new chapter and Finally~! Hinata's in this one! hehe hopefully i've got every one in character xD**

**!~Enjoy~!**

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter 5:<strong>

Lady Tsunade sat with Shizune beneath a tree as they watched from a safe distance the reunited Team 7's test. Sakura and Naruto were really giving Kakashi a workout, and the Hokage couldn't help but smile proudly as she saw her pupil yet again smash the immediate terrain into ruins and shambles.

But there was more on her mind at the moment than the two young ninja's Bell-Test.

Her mind flickered back to her private conversation with Jiraiya.

"_You really think it's _that?"_ She asked with wide eyes and a hushed voice._

"_I can't be sure," Jiraiya started, "But from what Naruto explained, it sure sounds like it. It's possible that it's a fake or a knock-off, but something of that caliber is very hard to recreate."_

_Lady Tsunade nodded slowly, "Is is just the Light? Or do you think she has control over the Breath as well?"_

"_She doesn't speak, and from what I can tell it's voluntary. If this is really the Shiawase's secret jutsu, then I'd bet that she has the Angel's Breath instilled in her as well."_

"_This is serious," Lady Tsunade spoke into her hands as she propped her elbows onto the desk in front of her, "Is it likely that she's a spy of some sort? Maybe the Village Hidden in the Clouds is planning something…"_

"_I don't think that's likely," Jiraiya said solemnly, "The Shiawase Clan stayed independent from the Cloud Village except for times of war when there was no other choice. The girl seems to be the same - independent – and doesn't appear to be taking orders from any higher source. While I don't know much about her except that she's from the Land of Lightning originally, and is completely stubborn, I think it's safe to say she's not working for anyone."_

_Lady Hokage hummed in thought._

_It was probably best to keep a close eye on the girl – watch her for a while to make sure she wasn't up to anything suspicious. But keeping her under a total lock-down and watch would be jumping straight to the conclusion that she's a spy or something close to it – and the girl probably wouldn't respond well to being cooped up like that._

"_Also," Jiraiya interrupted the woman's thoughts, "The girl seems under the impression that we're going to hurt her. She wouldn't be any clearer than that, but she has it in her mind that we're her enemies."_

"_Tch – that's going to make things a little more difficult." Tsunade sighed, "Well – I think our main goal should be to keep her close by for observation, but I don't want to restrain her by force. Give me a few hours and I'll come up with a good plan."_

Well, those few hours had passed now, and Lady Hokage still hadn't come up with more than the basic "Gain her trust and keep her relatively close." Her mind was buzzing with a bunch of other important things.

And now, Jiraiya was bringing the girl here for a small talk, where she was supposed to reveal her good plan on how to deal with the newcomer.

She groaned, "Shizune, you wouldn't have anything to drink, would you?"

Shizune sighed and shook her head, "No, Lady Tsunade."

"Bah – fine. I guess I'll just have to make up something on the spot."

As soon as the words left her lips, she saw an approaching duo that could prove to be the perfect solution to her problem. She smiled knowingly to herself and got to her feet as Hyūga Hinata and Aburame Shino headed towards her.

They both looked tired and road worn, and Tsunade's mind tried to recall what mission she had sent them on – she was pretty sure it had something to do with guarding, but as to whether they were guarding people or merchandise, the Hokage couldn't quite remember.

"Lady Tsunade," the young Hyūga girl greeted with her faint whisper of a voice.

Shino gave a respectful bow of his head and stood back up at attention, "Mission is complete, Hokage-sama."

Lady Tsunade nodded at the two of them, "Good – but where's Inuzuka?"

Hinata gave a small cough before her faint voice spoke, "Kiba-kun injured his arm, so we told him to go straight to the hospital while we made our report."

"Will you both be returning to the hospital then?"

Shino gave a small nod, "We were going to check on Kiba before going home to rest."

Tsunade smiled, "That's perfect then. I've got a new assignment for you."

"Wha – really?" Hinata asked quickly, "Shouldn't we wait until Kiba's here?"

"You can fill him in once you get to the hospital," Tsunade said. She saw movement coming towards her from the same direction that Shino and Hinata had and nodded at the two miss-matching figures approaching her.

* * *

><p>Jiraiya led me to a small place on the outskirts of the walled village. It looked to have recently been a small clearing, but now the ground was all broken up into rubble and uprooted grass. In the small area of trees beyond the disjointed clearing, the sounds of crashes and battle cries rose up. I thought I recognized Naruto's shout amongst the noise, and was given confirmation when the white-haired sage commented, "Naruto and Sakura are fighting their old Sensei – they got called away right after Sakura finished patching you up and have been out here ever since."<p>

I nodded at the information.

So that was why they never came back to my hospital room.

Under a large tree, illuminated in the setting sun's vibrant orange light, a small group of people stood, and I assumed we were here to see them.

The face that immediately stood out to me was one that matched the rock carving on the cliff-face in the distance behind me. She looked relatively young, but Naruto said during one of his many stories about this place that she was actually Jiraiya's age, but a seal made her look younger than she was. Her white blonde hair hung down in two pigtails that hung off her shoulders and down her large chest. She had a very strong countenance that made it harder for me to focus on the three others with her.

As we finally neared her, the Hokage woman spoke, "So this is our visitor." She gave a rueful smile as she looked me over.

Jiraiya nodded, "Yep – this is Kinshi."

The woman stared at me for a few seconds, but I did nothing but stare blandly back.

She gave a small laugh and then turned to look up at the sage, "She really shouldn't be walking on that leg so soon after the procedure."

"I told you she was stubborn – she was already trying to sneak out on us when I went to get her."

I scowled at the old man and immediately pulled out my scroll and pen.

I shoved the new message in his face: _I wouldn't have to try to sneak away if you'd let me leave. You have no reason to keep me here._

He just laughed at me and turned back to the Leaf's Hokage.

"Kinshi," the woman said in a strong voice, "I have no reason to believe that you are a threat to my village – but I want you to stay here for a week or so. You can either stay here as a guest until it is acceptable for you to leave, or as a prisoner if you refuse my offer." Her aged light brown eyes stared at me with a ferocity that reminded me of a mother bear protecting her cubs.

I clenched my teeth and held up one finger to signify her first option. It would still be possible to escape if I was considered a guest and allowed to roam free, instead of being locked away as the Leaf's prisoner.

Tsunade's eyes dropped the ferocity, "Good." She turned to her right, where two of the three other people were standing idly by. I was finally able to focus on them. The first was a tall…man? From the small portion of his face that was visible and his outline shrouded in an overly large jacket and hood, I could only guess that he was a male. He wore sunglasses over his eyes and had his hands shoved into the front pockets of his jacket. The second person was a shorter girl (who was still taller than I was, by the way) with faded silver eyes and long black hair that spilled down her back and over her shoulders. They both looked to be my age or maybe a year older.

"Hinata, Shino, and the third member of their team will be your escorts while you're staying here," the Hokage stated with her iron voice. My jaw dropped and I gave her an incredulous look, but she ignored me and continued on. "You are to be accompanied by at least one of them at all times. Once you are okay-ed to leave the hospital, you will stay with one of the team at their own residence."

Shaking my head I scribbled another message and shoved my scroll into her hands.

_Is it normal to treat guests like criminals?_

She gave a laugh and answered, "Only those that are flight risks." Her eyes narrowed at me. "If you disobey any of those standards, or try to leave the village without my permission, I will not hesitate to believe you a threat and act accordingly. Am I clear, Kinshi-chan?" She finished with a mock-sweet voice, and a fake smile

My jaw snapped back up into its normal position and my lips pulled into a tight line.

I wasn't given much of a choice – I could either agree to play by her rules with a promise of freedom somewhere along the line that may or may not be true, or be locked away in a cell somewhere while they figured out what to do with me next.

I slackened my lips a little bit and gave a small nod.

"Good," She said with her same false smile. She glanced over at the two shinobi who were to be my new guard dogs, "Hinata, please take Kinshi back to the hospital – I'll give Shino more details of your new assignment to pass onto you and Kiba later."

The girl with the faded silver eyes stepped forward a little bit as she responded, "Yes, Hokage-sama." She bit at her lip nervously as she came between me and the ferocious Kunoichi leader. "Um, hello," She greeted me quietly, her voice sounding just as faded and soft as her eyes looked.

I gave a small nod and loosened my scowl. She quietly walked past me and motioned for me to follow.

I gave one last look to Jiraiya, who gave a quick smile and said, "Keep out of trouble."

I sighed and followed the girl as she headed back the way we had come. As I pulled up to her side she gave me a nervous smile, "Your name is Kinshi, right?"

I nodded in agreement as she continued with her soft voice, "I'm Hyūga Hinata."

A forced smile touched the corners of my lips as a small acknowledgment.

Hyūga let out a small breath, "Hokage-sama may seem a little overbearing, but she really can be nice once you get to know her."

A short silent laugh rippled through my body at her statement – the Hokage Kunoichi seemed more like an angry mother bear. A little overbearing was hardly enough to describe her.

The girl looked curious as to why I was laughing so silently to myself, but didn't ask. She led me back to the hospital in silence.

I squinted my eyes at the setting sun as it lowered in the sky over the stone faces of the village's Five Hokage and shone directly into my pupils. The streets and pathways we took to get to the hospital, as well as the rest of the village, seemed to be bathed in brilliant orange light. Despite this place being the home of the enemy who would eventually try to hurt me, I couldn't help but appreciate the natural beauty of the place they had chosen to host their Hidden Village.

I was starting to recognize a few of the places as we neared the hospital, when Hyūga finally broke the silence that hung between us. "Oh, I was wondering if you knew any sign language."

I raised an eyebrow at her and she fidgeted with her fingers as she explained, "Well, I know quite a few hand signs, and figured it might make it easier for you to talk to me if you knew how to sign as well."

I smiled at her consideration and shook my head.

Hyūga sighed, "I bet it's frustrating not being able to speak…I used to feel unable to talk, but I guess that's nothing compared to actually being unable to speak."

I nodded and scribbled a small note to her: _Especially when I come across someone who can't read._

She gave a quite laugh, "That's even worse…"

I nodded and sighed as we reached the front doors of the hospital. We pushed through the double doors and approached the front desk, where an elderly woman was working.

Hyūga asked the aged woman with her soft voice, "I'm looking for my friend, Inuzuka Kiba?"

The woman scrolled down a chart on the desk and answered, "Room 16, floor two."

"Arigato," the faint-voiced girl replied and headed towards the stairs. She turned to me, "Do you remember what room you were in?"

I nodded.

"Alright," she paused to think for a moment before continuing, "I think Hokage-sama wanted you to stay the night here to finish up healing." She glanced at my bruised legs, "We can figure out where you're going to stay once Shino get's here."

I sighed and nodded. We walked up the stairs, and I noticed that with each upward step, a small niggling pain in my leg was starting to return. I groaned inwardly and prayed that a good night's sleep would make it all better – I didn't want to face any of the nurses again after hearing their explicit instructions to give it a day's rest before trying to walk on it, which I had immediately disobeyed.

We stepped onto the second floor and heard a commotion up ahead.

Hyūga sighed immediately and muttered to herself, "Kiba."

As we passed by empty rooms that read 13 and 14, voices and an animalistic growl floated down the hall to greet us.

"Please Inuzuka-san," a flustered female voice spoke tersely, "Can you tell the dog to get down?"

"No," a male voice said bluntly, "He's fine where he's at – just ignore him."

"I _can't_," the woman's voice replied, "I can't concentrate when he's growling like that."

The guy's voice laughed shortly, "He doesn't like hospitals – it's not like he's going to bite you or anything…well, unless you move too quickly." He snickered, accompanied by a dog's light bark.

The woman's voice – the nurse I assumed from the dialogue – gave a huff. I could hear the sound of heels clicking impatiently on tile. "The sooner you tell him to get down, the sooner I can start working on you, and the sooner you can leave. So please, just make the dog get down."

The dog didn't seem to like this idea and gave a deep throated growl in response.

Hyūga and I came finally came to room 16. She entered a little ways ahead of me while I stood in the open doorway.

The scene that greeted me looked a comical one – a middle-aged nurse nervously eyeing a very large white dog that sat on the lap of a brown-haired boy with red fang markings drawn onto his cheeks. The dog seemed almost twice the boy's size, and was currently barring his teeth at the nurse while the boy only smirked.

Hyūga spoke, "Kiba-kun, please listen to the nurse. She needs to heal you."

The boy – Kiba I presumed – suddenly looked to the doorway and gave the soft-spoken girl a small scowl, "I told you guys before – I'm fine! It's just a small sprain."

Hyūga shook her head quickly, "Your wrist is broken. Just let her fix it."

Kiba looked about to give another angry retort, when suddenly the large bear-like dog got to his feet, standing over Kiba's dwarfed body in a protective stance. The nurse jumped about three feet in the air as the dog gave a heart-stopping growl – but this time its hostility was aimed at me.

"Akamaru?" the boy asked, straining to see around the large beast's body to what was causing it to react so violently.

But I didn't back away or show fear to the animal. I knew from my years spent in the wilderness that if you showed fear or weakness to an animal of prey – especially wolves – that it marked you as an easy meal.

Instead of reacting with surprise or fear I held out an open palm to the dog as an offering to show that I was not a threat. If I offered the dog a chance to take in my scent, it would prove that I was not going to cause it harm. There was very little that a dog couldn't figure out with its nose – it could read fear and ulterior-motives in a person like I could read kanji.

Suddenly the dog ceased its growling and cocked its head to the side. The massive canine started to wag its tail and immediately jumped down from the bed. He pushed his large nose into my offered palm, sniffing me excitedly and giving happy barks and whiney noises.

I gave a silent laugh and dragged my fingers through his coarse white fur as he began walking circles around me.

"Who's she?" I heard the brown-haired boy ask.

Hyūga answered, "She's our new mission – I'll let Shino explain once he gets here. Her name's Kinshi."

I looked up from the large dog and gave a small half-hearted wave to the newest member of my prison-guards.

He nodded in acknowledgment, but continued to watch me curiously.

I looked back down at the dog and gave him a friendly scratch behind the ears – the overly large canine was more interesting than my figurative watch dogs.

"Couldn't the Hokage give us at least a day's rest before shoving us onto a new mission?" Kiba went back to complaining, "A little time to relax would be nice."

Hyūga shrugged, "Things are getting busy. There was something going on when we found Lady Tsunade – lots of loud crashes and shouts over on one of the training grounds."

The nurse gave an interrupting cough to remind us that she was still there, "Can I please start the healing process now?"

"Oh," Hyūga stammered, "I'm sorry – please do."

Kiba grumbled and sent a scathing look at the nurse, but didn't protest any longer. The nurse quickly grabbed his left arm, which the boy had been holding close to his stomach for most of his conversation with the black-haired girl, and started tracing her fingertips over his wrist.

Even I could tell from my place just inside the doorway, that his wrist was broken. It deviated in an unnatural direction instead of staying straight.

"This is going to hurt – you'll feel the bone popping back into place very slowly," the nurse warned with her tense voice.

"Yeah I know – I've done this before. Just get it over with quickly," Kiba snarled in a fashion that resembled his large canine friend.

The dog, who had contented himself to sitting at my feet with my hand buried in the fur atop his head, gave a soft whine of worry. His massive head turned up to me.

I smiled down comfortingly at the dog, patted his head and nodded pointedly at his brown-haired master.

The dog gave a soft bark of agreement at my nonverbal command and got back on all fours. He trotted over to his master's bedside and sat down within his master's reach. Immediately, the brown-haired boy wound his right and uninjured hand into the dog's fur for support.

I imagined that feeling a broken bone being mended was ten times as painful as getting a small fracture repaired. Having something soft and furry to hold onto for some sort of comfort might make it a little better.

"We're going to find Kinshi-san's things. We'll come back once she's finished," Hyūga stated.

"It'll take at least an hour – two if he keeps fidgeting," the nurse added pointedly.

Kiba grimaced in pain as he scowled at his wrist. "Fine. See you later," he said in a strained voice.

I followed the girl out of the room as she turned to me, "Now, which direction was your room?"

* * *

><p>The cold-voiced nurse finally finished healing Kiba's arm about an hour and a half later, and after bandaging him up with her rough hands, left him and Akamaru to relax.<p>

"Bitchy nurse," Kiba muttered while picking at the edges of his bandaged wrist, "Why do I always get the ones who end up man-handling me? I swear she made it worse than it was."

Akamaru gave a yip of agreement and went back to panting contentedly on Kiba's lap.

All the way through the procedure, his partner had stayed stiffly by his bedside, but as soon as the nurse's cold hands left his wrist, Akamaru jumped up onto the bed and started licking Kiba's hurting wrist.

As Kiba tousled his canine friend's patched brown ears, he remembered how quickly the massive pooch had greeted the strange blonde girl. At first it seemed as if Akamaru had smelt something dangerous – Kiba swore that the only time the dog had growled that loud was during intense fights – but then after a few small and levelheaded gestures by the girl, Akamaru had gone straight to her, even going to far as to allow her to pet him. Akamaru usually took a long time to trust strangers – especially girl strangers. Kiba remembered that it took at least a week for the white dog to warm up to Hinata, but here, it had only taken a few seconds for the massive mutt to accept the blonde girl's presence and trot over excitedly to be petted.

Suddenly, Akamaru's head jerked up from its rested position on one of Kiba's legs and stared at the door expectantly, breaking Kiba's line of thought.

The dog must have recognized the approaching scent, because his head went back down only a few seconds later. It took Kiba only one quick sniff of the air to tell who it was.

Shino.

Kiba shook his head – those bugs of his were borderline disgusting, but they did have a very particular scent, making it almost impossible to imitate. He could always tell if it was actually Shino, or if it was an imposter by the scent of those creepy beetles.

The obscured face of his Team 8 nakama finally appeared in the open doorway of his hospital room. He wondered vaguely if the guy had some sort of complex about showing his skin, because recently he'd been covering more and more of himself up. Now, all that was left visible of his body was his nose and a few scraps of cheeks and forehead.

"Kiba-kun," Shino greeted with his stoic voice, "You're supposed to keep the bandages on."

Kiba looked down at his wrist to find that he'd ended up picking away his bandages while lost in thought. He shrugged, "It's not like those little scraps of cloth actually do anything."

Shino shook his head but moved onto a different subject, "Where's Hinata?"

"Went with the blonde chick to get her things…who is she anyways? Hinata said something about her being our new mission but didn't say anything else." Kiba scratched Akamaru behind the ears and waited for his bug-filled friend to answer.

"I think we should wait for –" but Shino was cut off by Hinata's sudden appearance in the doorway.

"Shino-san – you're here as well," She gave a small smile and slid into the room. She took a seat on the corner of Kiba's bed and focused again on Shino, "So what did Hokage-sama say after I left?"

Shino gave a cough before speaking, "Lady Hokage said that we are to keep a close eye on the girl. She's not to leave our sights. Why, you wonder? Because she has a dangerous ninjutsu from the Land of Lightning, and may be a spy for the Hidden Village of that nation."

Kiba, who'd gotten used to his nakama's strange way of speaking a long time ago, ignored the odd way he relayed the mission and instead focused on the information. He absently scratched Akamaru behind the ears, "If her power is dangerous that would explain Akamaru's first sudden reaction of her…but he didn't seem to think her a threat after all." He looked up at Shino, "What does this power do?"

Shino shook his head, "That, Lady Tsunade wouldn't tell me. Why? Because she claims not to be sure herself. All she told me of it is that it has something to do with her eyes changing color. If her eyes turn gold, we're supposed to get away from her as fast as we can – the strange power of hers almost killed Naruto-kun."

Kiba only had a split second to think, _Great. He said the N-word around Hinata…_

Hinata immediately reverted back into her old stuttering habits, her cheeks turning violently crimson at the mere mention of the blonde's name. "N-N-Naru-Naruto-k-kun?" She barely managed to breathe.

"So the flake is finally back, huh?" Kiba said nonchalantly.

Shino nodded, "It appears so. Sakura and Uzumaki were being tested by Kakashi," he turned to Hinata's blushing face, "That's what all the sounds of destruction were."

Hinata shook her head a little bit in an attempt to get rid of the hot blood accumulating beneath her cheeks.

"So how are we going to handle this blonde chick?" Kiba asked to bring everyone back on topic.

Shino coughed again before speaking, "Hokage-sama said that she was a flight risk, so we really need to keep an eye on her."

Hinata nodded and added faintly, "Earlier, Hokage-sama threatened to keep Kinshi-san as a prisoner of she tried to run away. Do you really think she's that desperate to leave?"

"If she's trying to run, doesn't that mean she's got something to hide? It might be best to just lock her up – I'm sure the Intelligence guys could take a quick peek into her head and prove whether she was a spy or not." Kiba stifled a yawn with his good hand.

"I guess it makes sense, but treating a person like a prisoner just for acting strange seems a little harsh. She might be trying to run away because she's scared of us." Hinata pushed herself off Kiba's bed and fidgeted with her sleeves, the redness in her cheeks not quite faded, "Anyways, we should get some rest – we're all tired from that last mission. We can figure out the rest tomorrow."

Shino nodded but stared at the door, "Yes…but where's Kinshi-san now?"

Hinata gave a small smile, "Well, I took her back to her room and she immediately fell asleep after getting back into her bed. I came here to check on Kiba-kun really quick before going back. I was planning on just sleeping here tonight to keep a watch on her."

"That's a good idea. We'll meet here tomorrow a couple hours after dawn." Shino pushed his sunglasses higher up on the bridge of his nose and gave a nod to his teammates before leaving.

Hinata gave a small wave to Kiba and Akamaru, "Please listen to the nurses, Kiba-kun. You'll heal faster if you do what they say."

Kiba grumbled, "Fine – but I'm not wearing the pointless bandages!" Akamaru gave a short bark to emphasize his master's point.

The girl gave a small laugh and said with her faint voice, "Goodnight then." She disappeared out the doorway, leaving Kiba and his partner to finally get some rest.

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><p><strong>hehe Shino should know by now not to say the N-word around Hinata xD So how'd you like it? Was everyone in character?<strong>

Thanks for reading - don't forget to review on your way out~!


	6. Early Morning Adventures

**Hi-ya! Alrighty then, here's the newest chapter xD I there's no OOCness - and if there is please feel free to tell me. Anyways, on with the good stuff!**

**Disclaimer: I realized that I've been forgetting to put this on every chapter. Hopefully the copyright police don't come to steal me away in the night lol I do not own Naruto!**

**!~Enjoy~**!

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><p><strong>Chapter 6:<strong>

I hadn't realized how tired I was until I got back into that hospital bed and pulled the blankets over me. I was probably asleep within minutes.

I slept heavily through the night, and woke to the sounds of light breathing and echoing footsteps. The footsteps I was sure came from nurses patrolling the hallways and making sure all their patients were tended to and cared for sufficiently, but the breaths confused me.

Slowly I pushed myself up onto my elbows and found that the black-haired girl had fallen asleep in a chair pushed into the corner of the room. She had her head leaning against the wall with her mouth hanging open just enough to make her breaths audible. Her closed eyes fluttered in sleep but she didn't wake up.

I sighed and lay my head back down on the pillow.

While I was currently being watched like a prisoner and kept in the village against my will, I couldn't help but smile at the feel of the feather pillow propping up my head. It had been so long since I'd had a real pillow…in fact, it had been quite a while since I'd slept in a real bed as well. Even if I preferred sleeping under the stars and surrounded by the comforting sounds of the wild, it was quite nice having a mattress beneath me and a roof above me.

I turned my head a bit to gaze out my window. We were on the third floor, giving me a panoramic view of the northern side of the Leaf Village. Buildings of varying heights reached upward, only the tallest of which managed to touch the blue horizon beyond the forests that surrounded the walled village. The sun looked to be relatively young, giving off white-gold light that started to wash through the early morning. I could just see a small sliver of it from my window, making my eyes squint due to the brightness that contrasted with my darker hospital room.

I tried to urge myself to get up, but the comfortable mattress didn't want me to leave just yet. An epic struggle for my life soon began against the blankets and warm bed, but I eventually rolled out as the victor. I eased myself onto my feet, and was happy to find that the small pain I had felt yesterday after disobeying the nurse's instructions was gone. My elation faded quickly though as I spotted the nasty bruises that still stained my dark skin.

I looked around the room again and spotted a narrow door hanging ajar a little bit away from Hyūga's corner. The small opening was enough for me to tell that it was a bathroom complete with a shower.

I smiled again. I grabbed the first clean clothes I could find in my travel pack and quickly disappeared into the bathroom, happy to find that the shower had a knob for hot water.

With the water at an almost boiling temperature I scalded away the dirt, sweat, and other unpleasant side-effects that came with being a traveler and spending most of my time in the wilderness. I scrubbed my skin and scalp with the standard soap they kept in the bathroom for the patients, and lathered my long hair with it as well.

I spent a good thirty minutes beneath the scalding water before stepping out and wrapping myself with a towel. It didn't take too much longer to dry myself off, get dressed and loop my blue hair-bead back into my damp hair. I tugged on the tied loop in my hair to make sure it wouldn't come undone and finally pushed open the door.

Hyūga was waiting for me, still sitting in her chair. She sipped at a cup of what smelled like jasmine tea and greeted me with a small smile, "_Ohayou_, Kinshi-san."

I nodded my greetings and offered a polite smile as well – after such a nice shower, I couldn't quite bring myself to tighten my lips at the girl, even if she was my watchdog.

"One of the nurses brought in some breakfast," She said faintly, nodding towards two trays of food placed on a small table beside my tousled hospital bed. It looked to be eggs of some sort with white rice and biscuits. It smelled delicious and I soon came to hover over one of the plates of food.

Hyūga seemed content with just her tea, but the more I looked at her, the more tired and bedraggled she seemed. Her faded silver eyes were sporting small bags beneath them, and her sleek black hair seemed to have lost some of its shine.

I grabbed my scroll and pen from beneath the feather pillow of my borrowed bed, where I had stowed them last night and quickly wrote her a message.

_You look like you could use a nice hot shower as well._

I held out the message for her to read.

She smiled politely, "I'm sure I look a mess – and a shower sounds great but…" Hyūga dropped her sentence and started to fidget with the rim of her tea cup.

I sighed and wrote, _I won't run away – even if I did, the dog has my scent. Could find me very easily._

Besides, I thought to myself, I wasn't stupid enough to try something so soon into my stay here. Especially so soon after that frightening little speech the Hokage had given me about trying to leave without her permission.

Hyūga seemed to think, but the temptation of a hot shower was too much for any girl to resist. "A quick one couldn't hurt – it would be nice to feel clean," she said faintly as she got to her feet. She set down her cup of tea and closed herself off in the bathroom, where seconds later the sounds of running water could be heard.

I ate most of the food the nurses had left for me, and after walking around a bit more on my healed leg, decided I'd use my free time to go through all my craft objects and take stock of the supplies I had – maybe I could use my time here to swindle some money out of people in exchange for my small trinkets.

I smiled at the thought and settled myself onto my borrowed bed, pulling my satchel with my craft supplies into my lap.

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><p>Kiba was not a morning person, but unfortunately for him, Akamaru was. Bright and early the massive white pooch had started fidgeting around the room, walking in circles and occasionally scratching at the door.<p>

The messy-haired boy groaned in protest, but forced his body to push itself out of the warmth of the hospital bed. He knew that if he didn't get up and open the door soon, Akamaru would end up doing his business in the corner, thus earning the two of them a good scolding by one of the nurses.

Kiba shuffled over to the door and let Akamaru out, leaving it up to the dog to find his way outside before his dam broke. After watching the dog scramble out of the door and run down the hallway for the nearest exit, Kiba left the door cracked open so that his partner could come back in whenever he was finished.

He sat back down on the side of his bed and looked down at himself. Instead of changing into the hospital gown the nurse had left for him, he had slept in his clothes, only stopping to take off his heavy jacket before falling quickly asleep. His clothes were wrinkled and sloppy, but he figured he'd be able to hide his messy appearance by throwing on his jacket.

Kiba quickly pulled on his jacket and refastened his headband as he slowly tested out his freshly healed wrist.

He rotated it around in circles, and found that it only stung a little when he moved it too quickly.

He muttered complaints to himself about nothing in particular when he realized that Akamaru had been gone longer than usual.

The boy thought that maybe the pooch had gotten distracted by some small creature outside, but as he opened his window and stuck his head out into the morning air, he didn't smell any fresh signs of the white dog.

The air smelled sugary and sweet like most spring mornings, and held a small trace of his partner's scent, but from the deterioration of it, Akamaru hadn't been outside for a few minutes now.

Kiba shut the window and started out into the hall to try to find the dog. He used his excellent sense of smell to shift through the stale air of the hospital, and found two scent trails left behind by his furry friend. The first trail headed towards the stairs and down to the first floor, while the second came from the ground floor, passed by the stair's doorway onto the second, and continued upwards to the third level of the hospital.

He creased his brows and wondered why in the world Akamaru wanted to go up there – the dog hated the smell of the hospital and usually avoided it at all costs, unless Kiba had a reason to go there.

Following the scent trail of his partner, Kiba shuffled lazily upstairs, still slightly groggy and unhappy about it being so early in the morning. He could be using this time to catch more Z's instead of chasing down Akamaru and whatever the dog was looking for up on the third floor.

Kiba tried to sniff out anything that would warrant the dog's attention, but found that all the chemical and medicinal smells that lingered in the hospital's stale air hid whatever Akamaru had found to chase.

Akamaru's scent was getting stronger as he stepped out of the stairwell and onto the third floor.

He caught whiff of another familiar scent, and finally realized what was on this floor that could possible cause Akamaru to pay a visit…but it still seemed strange to him.

"Does this chick have bacon stashed in her pockets, or something?" grumbled to himself as he followed Akamaru's and now Hinata's scent trails. As the scents grew stronger, he could hear the sounds of water running and his furry friend's conversational barks, which he usually only heard when the two of them were by themselves as Akamaru was never very vocal around strangers unless it was to growl at them.

Finally he stepped into the open doorway of room 39 and shook his head lightly at the sight.

Akamaru was standing on his hind legs with his front paws propped up on the side of the blonde girl's bed. She was sitting cross-legged atop the covers working with some brightly colored feathers and black leather string. She was nodding and smiling at the dog as he gave out his occasional sounds of conversation which consisted of low barks, yips and the rare playful growl.

The girl noticed Kiba's presence immediately but only gave a sideways glance as her fingers continued on with their current task. Akamaru turned his head, gave a bark of greeting to his master and then continued wagging his tail at the blonde girl.

Kiba sniffed the air more closely, but didn't smell any bacon or dog treats on her person, quickly dispelling his original idea that she was luring the dog in with food. He sighed and leaned against the doorframe. "Akamaru," Kiba warned, "At this rate you're going to lose your reputation as a ferocious Ninja Dog."

The dog didn't seem to mind though, as he gave a laugh-like bark and then got down on all fours. He trotted happily over to Kiba's side and sat himself down just beside the door.

The room got quiet except for the sounds of running water and the loud panting breaths of the dog. The blonde girl – it was too early in the morning for Kiba to try to remember her actual name – was working silently away on whatever craft she had in her hands, leaving Kiba with nothing to do.

He crossed his arms and just sat there staring at the girl, observing her and partially hoping to get a rise out of her. It was never too early to get on people's nerves.

She had silvery blonde hair that was drying slowly as it draped over her shoulders and came to an end at her waist, which was slightly darker at the moment due to its dampness. Her rounded eyes were a sharp brown that were currently staring intently at her hands as she fastened feathers to a leather band with knots and beads. Her face was narrow and smooth, interrupted only by the strange scars that came down from her eyes which reminded him of his own red markings on his cheeks. Despite her small body frame, she had curves in all the right places.

As soon as he came to that last conclusion, her eyes darted quickly up at him. Her eyes were narrowed at him, but all she did was stare back at him.

Kiba held in his smirk and kept up gaze.

_Interesting_, he mused, _usually people respond by freaking out, getting angry or blushing, depending on who I'm staring at. She's different, I'll give her that much._

Neither Kiba nor the girl backed down their gazes. They were fighting a silent battle to see who would break away first.

But unfortunately they would never find out, as Hinata suddenly came out of the bathroom with a satisfied sigh. She was combing her fingers through her hair as she spotted Kiba, "Oh, Kiba-kun! I didn't think you'd be up this early."

Both Kiba and the blonde looked towards the Hyūga at the same time. Kiba gave a small laugh, "If I had my way, I wouldn't be – but Akamaru decided to go off on an adventure without me."

A small smile touched the corners of Hinata's lips as she glanced down at the massive white dog. Akamaru gave a short "Hello" bark to which Hinata replied, "Good morning to you too, Akamaru."

The blonde girl suddenly stashed her feathery craft into a satchel at her side and pulled a scroll and pen into her lap. She started to write and then held up the message to Hinata.

It was too far away for Kiba to read so he just waited for Hinata to respond.

"Hmm," the Hyūga hummed, "Well, we need to find Shino and figure out where you're going to stay while you're here. I guess we could go look for him – he's probably on his way here by now." Hinata looked to Kiba.

He shrugged, "Shino's a morning person – even if he's not on his way, we won't wake him up."

Hinata nodded, "Alright, let's go find him then."

The blonde girl nodded and slid off of her bed. She pulled her satchel on so that it hung diagonally across her torso, and then moved to grab a larger travel pack that had been sitting in the corner of the room.

"I can carry that," Hinata offered; but the blonde only shook her head as she threw the large pack onto her back. Despite the extra luggage being at least half her size, she carried it with practiced ease as she walked around the bed.

She looked to Hinata and then to Kiba, signaling silently that she was ready whenever they were.

Hinata nodded and the quartet, including Akamaru, headed out the door to find the last member of Team 8.

* * *

><p>We had only been walking for a short time when the face-painted boy, Kiba, had turned us down an alleyway created by wooden fences. He said he caught the scent of his friend, and I realized that not only did the dog have a way to find me if I ever tried to run away, but he did as well.<p>

I scowled at the horizon – my luck was turning out to be consistently bad, and I wondered what obstacle I'd have to face next. The way things were looking now, it seemed that I'd be at the mercy of the Leaf Village until the Hokage decided to lock me away permanently where her lackeys could test and experiment on me.

I shuttered at the thought.

Suddenly the large dog – Akamaru the others had called him – gently nibbled on my dangling hand that had previously been resting atop his head as he walked beside me.

I looked up, brought suddenly out of my thoughts to see that the others had stopped and I had been close to running into Kiba's back. I smiled my thanks down at the dog, who'd thought to warn me with the shallow bite, and ruffled up the fur on his head a bit.

"_Ohayou_, Shino-san," Hyūga's faint voice drifted into the silent spring morning.

I looked forward again to see that we'd come across the person we'd been looking for, my third jailer for my stay in the Hidden Leaf. He was once again, shrouded in a large jacket, complete with hood and sunglasses to hide the majority of his flesh.

He nodded and gave Hyūga the return greeting. He then turned to the rest of us, "I thought we were going to meet in the hospital."

"We were all awake, so we decided to come find you…plus, Kiba-kun was getting frustrated from being stuck in the hospital.

Kiba scowled, "Was not."

Hyūga only smiled in reply and looked to Shino.

The hooded guy turned towards the sky, as if to determine the time and then spoke, "We should discuss our plans over something to eat."

Kiba nodded and grinned, quickly leaving behind his previous scowl, "Sounds good to me! I can't touch that hospital crap – the smell of medicine and chemicals always soaks into the food."

Akamaru barked in agreement and scratched at the ground with his front paws for emphasis.

I gave a silent laugh down at the dog. Though the food I had eaten earlier tasted just fine to me, I realized that those with keener senses of smell could probably taste just as finely.

"Okay," Hyūga agreed.

We continued forward, the way Shino had come from, until we came to a main street. Despite the early hour of the morning, the town was slowly starting to wake up and move about. Shopkeepers were opening their doors and sweeping the dust out of their shops, while warm smells of food were wafting from the kitchens of restaurants. Kiba led the way, and took us through an open doorway of a place that smelled of chili spices and other hot aromas.

I smiled and felt my stomach grumble, despite it being mostly full from the food the nurses brought me.

We sat down at a small booth and immediately a woman came over to take our orders.

I took a quick look at the menu sitting in the center of the table. The hot scent of the restaurant had me craving something spicy, so when the waitress looked to me I pointed to the spicy Miso soup that came with marinated veggies.

"Are you sure?" Hyūga asked me quietly, "The spices in that are really hot."

I only smiled and nodded, and waited for everyone else to order.

"So," Kiba said as he leaned back in his seat and stretched his arms above his head. He was sitting beside me while Hyūga and Shino sat across from me. The odd man out was Akamaru, who was sitting patiently at the end of the table, waiting with a wagging tail for his own food to come. "How are we supposed to do this? Just have blondie tag along with us wherever we go?"

I sent a sideways scowl at the brown-haired boy, but quickly looked to the other two for their answer. I was just as curious as Kiba as to how they were going to deal with me.

Shino sighed at Kiba's curtness but replied, "That's the plan. Why? Because Hokage-sama didn't specify on the how. We're just supposed to keep an eye on her for a week or so."

I pursed my lips, but could think of no other way. I would just have to follow one of these three around for most of my time and try to find a good opportunity to run away.

"I guess so…but who will she stay with? It would be too expensive to have someone stay with her at one of the hotels," Hyūga spoke. She let her head rest in her open palm as she thought.

I pointed to her, automatically thinking that it would be best to stick with the girl, for convenience and because she seemed the easiest to get away from for my future plans of escape.

She shook her head, "My clan has very strict rules on non-members in the compound. Only shinobi from the village are allowed in, but no one but those of the Hyūga clan can be there after dark."

I pursed my lips again – her people didn't sound like a very accommodating bunch.

Akamaru suddenly got up onto all fours and started nudging at Kiba's side.

"Akamaru," Kiba groaned.

The dog kept nudging Kiba with his brown nose and then lifted his head to send a bark at the rest of us.

"Alright, alright – I get it," Kiba sighed, "Sheesh dog." Kiba looked at the rest of us, "Well, since she can't stay at either of your places, that leaves me. Akamaru won't let me say no, so I guess it's decided."

I felt my jaw drop open slightly due to the abruptness of his statement and then turned to Shino, who'd been over looked.

I could see his brows creasing deeper, "Why is my place automatically dismissed?"

"I've had to stay at your house before, Shino – there are bugs everywhere. I woke up with them practically swarming all over me and Akamaru."

Shino looked affronted, "It can't be helped that there are bugs – that's part of our clan's jutsu…and I've explained before that the bugs were just trying to be kind. They were keeping you warm since you didn't take a blanket."

My eyes widened as I realized I what type of clan Shino must belong to. Out of the thousand of rumors that I had heard of the Hidden Leave Village, one of the most common ones was that of a clan of shinobi who specialized in bug-based jutsus. I had heard that they made contracts with certain species of bugs and in exchange for the bug's help and use in battles and ninja tactics, the bugs were allowed to live inside of the ninja's body.

While bugs had never bothered me particularly and I was curious to find out some of the specifics of Shino's clan, I didn't think staying in a house filled with bugs would be too pleasant. I sighed, realizing my only option, and pulled out my scroll and pen. I scribbled a message and set it out on the table for everyone to see.

_It's fine. I'll stay with dog-boy then._

Kiba stopped arguing with Shino to scowl at me, "Dog-boy?"

"Well, you did call her blondie," Shino added matter-of-factly.

I smirked at _dog-boy _and started to roll up my scroll once again.

"Fine," Kiba muttered, "I'll use your name if you use mine. So what was it again?"

Hyūga sighed, "Kinshi."

Kiba nodded and looked back at me with a ghost of his former scowl, "Alright _Kinshi_, I guess you're staying with me and Akamaru." He seemed to think for a minute and then groaned, "My sister will probably panic when she sees you."

"Hana-san? But she's very nice…" Hyūga added quietly.

Kiba shook his head, "Yeah, but you didn't hear her when she found out that you – a girl – was in my squad," Kiba ran a hand through his messy hair, "If I'm bringing a girl to stay with us, I'm going to get 'the talk' all over again."

I gave a silent laugh as Hyūga asked, "Really?"

Kiba nodded slowly, "Oh yeah – it was so weird. She freaked me out so bad I made an effort to avoid you and all other girls for the next two weeks."

I covered my mouth as I laughed silently to myself.

"Oh shut up," Kiba muttered bitterly.

I looked across the table to see that both Shino and Hyūga were shaking with laughter at the boy beside me. Even Akamaru seemed to be smiling as he looked at the four of us.

I wiped a small tear that was accumulating in the corner of my eye. While staying with _dog-boy_ wasn't all that appealing, it did seem that I was in for some entertainment at his expense.

Finally our food came, distracting us all from the red-faced Kiba and our laughter.

The first spoonful of steaming Miso soup had indeed lived up to my expectations. It was wonderfully spicy and hot, immediately warming my entire body up and alerting the rest of my still-sleepy senses.

After a few spoonfuls, I gave up on using the utensil and just started sipping the soup from the bowl.

"How are you able to eat that?" Hyūga asked as she stared at me over her own plate of barely touched food.

I shrugged and kept downing my soup. I loved spices. They reminded me of the Land of Lightning, where every dish was prepared with tons of spice and hot flavors. Granted, the Land of Lightning held no exceptionally happy memories for me, but it was hard to hate a place that had such good food.

With my soup finished but for a few drops, I started to work on my vegetables with a slightly slower pace. They didn't have much flavor, but I ate them just the same.

I watched the group as they all ate their breakfast, and contented myself to observe them as a whole.

My jailers seemed decent enough people, Kiba being the only one who wasn't particularly kind. The way they acted with each other spoke of a deep trust and nakamaship. I could tell that they'd known each other for a long time and had grown to accept and understand each other as close friends often do. They were definitely an odd trio – quartet if you included Akamaru – but despite their differing personalities they seemed to work well together.

They talked idly while they ate, sometimes trying to bring me into the conversation, but seeing as it was hard to write down my responses quickly while getting my kanji to be neat and readable, I usually only responded with a nod or small gesture of the same sort.

As everyone else finally finished up their plates of food, Kiba leaned back in the booth we shared and let his hands rest atop his head, "So what's the plan for today?"

"Well," Hyūga started, "I've got to report back to my father. I probably should have done it when I got back, but he'll understand if it was because of a new mission."

Shino nodded, "I think we should take today off. We just got back from a tiring mission and I'm sure Kinshi's rather tired as well."

I shrugged. I was actually rather restless, but I didn't want to be particularly rude – I could see on all of their faces that they were rather tired…or in Shino's case I could tell by the tone of his voice since I could only see a few scraps of his face.

Kiba let out a breath, "Alright, but let's meet tomorrow at our spot for some training."

Hyūga nodded, "Alright. The usual time?"

"Eh – make it ten instead. I want to sleep in," Kiba bargained.

We left money to pay for the meal on the table – I pitched in enough to cover my portion despite Hyūga's protests that a guest shouldn't have to pay – and we all headed for the building's exit.

I sighed and hoped that my time in this village would be shorter than I expected, and I would find a safe and smart way to escape from these people.

Maybe my luck would start to change.

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><p><strong>A very big thanks to my few reviewers! You guys have the wonderful ability to make me smile giddily to myself xD<strong>

**Also, i thought i should add that **_Ohayou_ **means** _Goodmorning_ **in Japanese :)**

**Thanks for reading! Don't forget to review on your way out!**


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